Very Be Careful
Very Be Careful took to the stage under ominous skies, and jumped straight into the inimitable style that has seen them become a constantly touring act. The crowd grew immediately as punters who recalled (or simply heard about) their performances at FRF last year stumbled in. All of a sudden Orange Court was seeing as much action as it ever has on a mid afternoon set. Maybe they'd heard the stories from the boys up at Canyons in Minakami, where they played not for the first time last week.
Accordion player and frontman Ricky G introduced the band to the delighted crowd as "Very Be Careful Desuu!" after a couple of tracks. Resting his head on the accordion while he's not singing, Ricky G fronts a team of usually five, but today there were up to six on stage at times. Born on the streets of LA, raised in the subways of New York, but with their hearts set firmly on the streets of Colombia, the lads were putting out their vallenato tunes so tightly this afternoon that they were even swilling their beers in unison between songs! "We're always ready to campai!" noted Ricky G after one such incident. Their infectious tracks sung in Spanish had the crowd loving every minute of the show.
Midway through the festivities, a very special guest made an appearance: One of the Mario Brothers, or was it Super Mario? The band seemed unable to decide. regardless, Mario brought with him what Ricky G said was the biggest ball he'd ever seen. You may recognise it from various reports on here, this sucker has literally made it from one end of the festival to the other, spotted in the Red Marquee area last night, half way to White this morning, and at Orange by 4 in the afternoon!
The rain started to come down soon after this, half way through "I see, uh huh", but it didn't send a single audience member running for cover. No, out came an entire crowds worth of plastic raincoats in a rainbow of colours, and the grooving just kept on groovin on! If there's a more strangely hypnotic sight at a music festival that a bunch of people dancing with bags and packs of varying sizes hidden beneath their raincoats, I'd like to see it. Kind of like a load of hunchbacks having a group epileptic fit.
In all, Very Be Careful didn't disappoint, and showed us why they keep coming back to Japan: Great music in a rarely seen genre!
Mario Brother photos by Taiki.
Other photos by Koichi”hanasan”Hanafusa
Reported by Dominic Raos (2008.07.25 / 20:37)