Opinion: It takes a village to bring world class music to Bedford Park

Bedford Park once again becomes the beating heart of Bedford, with music and a vibrant atmosphere, as weekend two of Bedford Summer Sessions begins tonight with The Human League coming to our town.

Those of you who have been to Bedford’s Summer Sessions will have seen the lights, felt the atmosphere, and heard the music. However, what you may not have seen is what fascinated me the most.

With the first weekend of Bedford’s own music festival complete, I had a chance to have a tour around the summer sessions area during the break, and I hadn’t realised how much of a mini village it had become in such a short span of time.

Catching up with Mark Harrison, the promoter of Bedford Summer Sessions, he tells me that the number of people on site to build the show is around 120. It takes seven days to put everything together, and six days to deconstruct it all.

They do everything from a greenfield site to a fully functional world-class music venue within a week. This utterly blew me away.

“Everything you see here we bring in”, said Mark.

Mesmerised

When looking through a music lover’s lens, you are led to become fully immersed in your surroundings. The concert area is where you see everything come to life – the performers, the bars, the food stalls.

But looking through a much wider lens, seeing beyond a fragment of this celebration of music, truly made me feel fascinated and mesmerised.

One thing that really caught my attention was the addition they made in the area designed for those with disabilities, such as a bar being installed which allows people to have access to drinks without walking a decent distance.

This really made me feel positive, knowing the people behind Bedford Summer Sessions have actively put in more effort each year to make everyone’s experience more practical and enjoyable.

Another part that had piqued my interest was the amount of safety that goes into these summer festivals.

When I had asked about what goes into keeping everybody safe, Mark had explained how much of a pivotal factor it is, expanding on all separate things put in place for the highest amount of security.

One safety regulation he explained was their control of food and drink, “all of our concerts [except for Bedford Park Proms], it’s no food or drink. We just can’t allow anything in at all.”

Some may say this is purely a cynical commercial tactic, and while Mark acknowledges this, he says there are other factors too.

“It’s mainly for safety reasons, for spiking and all those kinds of things… So, there is a commercial aspect as well, but our primary objective is for safety, so that when our customers are here, we know they’re safe with us.

“We look after them during the show and until they go home”.

Bringing the best to Bedford

While food and drink do help gig-goers have fun, it’s the acts they’ve come to see, so I asked how the team is able to get such well-known performers to come to ‘little old Bedford’.

To my amusement, Mark says, “It’s like trying to buy a house with one arm tied behind your back and blindfolded.”

He added that they have to first see if the artists are going to be in Europe or the UK when the gigs are planned, and then also if they are touring as they have new music they’re releasing.

What stood out for me, though, was being told it is also Bedford Park itself that is such a big draw for artists like Sir Tom Jones, Nile Rodgers, Avril Lavigne, The Lottery Winners and Sting, who are just some of the big names that have played here in recent years.

“It’s why we take such great care of their venues, why we work so hard in Bedford”, said Mark, “It looks beautiful today. It’s a beautiful, established Victorian park, and the artists have a good time when they get here.”

Having this discussion with Mark in between the two weekends gave me a great opportunity to ask him how the first week went.

He said how brilliant the performers were, even if “it is subjective”, but for him it’s the crowd that makes it.

“‘It’s great to see people having a good time, whatever the genre, and I think for a provincial town to bring a range of music that pleases most people is what sets us apart.”

But he maintains that it’s the Bedford crowd itself that brings the energy and, using Rag’n’Bone Man’s absorbing performance last weekend (5 July) as an example, he says the acts respond to that.

“[He] really engaged with the audience,” said Mark, “[he] didn’t just perform song after song after song. He really reached out, and I think that captivated the audience.”

Read: Rag’n’Bone Man at Bedford Summer Sessions: A soul-stirring performance for the everyday heart (review)

When having a closer look at the whole area of Bedford’s summer sessions, I realised just how much everything took to put on the show.

The technical aspects, the number of workers needed on site, the evaluations, the safety regulations, and so on.

I had always been aware of the complexities. Still, it wasn’t until I had the chance to see the bigger picture and peek behind the scenes that I comprehended how necessary everything is to deliver the annual highlight of Bedford’s live music calendar.

But what about the Bedfordian who first started these Bedford Park concerts twenty-five years ago, from championing ‘Proms in the Park’, to growing the festival with new owners Cuffe & Taylor into a wide range of music performances for all tastes?

Read: Bringing the £6million party to Bedford: Why top promoters are backing our town

“This has been my life,” Mark says with a smile, “It brings the same kind of people around you, and you either do it well or you don’t do it at all, it’s all-consuming, and I love it.”

Bedford Summer Sessions continues tonight (Thursday, 10 July) with Human League. Tomorrow it’s Cafe Mambo Ibiza, followed by Supergrass on Saturday and McFly on Sunday.

Limited tickets are left for all shows and are available here.

Published as part of our work experience partnership with Sharnbrook Academy