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The six guys in Barefoot Fred realize luck is on their side. Not just in a career sense — they’ll be opening for Phish at Noblesville’s Green Acres Campground — but when it comes to weather and traffic accidents as well.
“Last month, we played a festival that was plagued by a torrential downpour,” says Shane LaVigne, the Chicago jam band’s percussionist. “I mean, it wasn’t letting up for anything. As our time slot approached, we had already accepted our fate. We set up our gear, took the stage, and began to play.
“As if someone were looking down on us, the rain instantly stopped. The people in attendance came out and got their groove on. The weather held up for our entire set, and as strangely as it started, began to pour almost simultaneously with our last note. It was unreal. Trust me, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.”
That someone up in the sky also offered a helping hand when the band was traveling back from a gig in southern Illinois. Their trailer unhitched and sped past their van in the middle of a four-lane highway. Yet, they avoided an accident, and their gear was totally fine due to “Tetris-like packing.”
“A man who witnessed the entire event got out to help, and promptly informed me to go buy a lottery ticket as I may be the luckiest man he has even met,” LaVigne said.
Now, the band gets to warm up Phish phans (or phriends or phamily), some of the most die-hard fans in the world of music. LaVigne says Barefoot Fred will play mostly original tunes from its own fusion of funk, jazz, reggae and rock, but plans to drop in a couple surprise covers.
As for playing any Phish songs? “We’ll leave that to them.” Guess a band has to know when to stop pushing its luck.
