Vetiver at Bedford Civic Theatre 25/06/2011 by Jack Sharp
Arriving to find two dozen people scattered around on tables and chairs, I was a little disappointed in Bedford’s apparent apathy for a band as renowned and critically acclaimed as Vetiver. Despite the recent surge in local culture and creative events it seems to remain difficult to stage good touring rock bands and make it work.
However, Vetiver were sublime. The music and the performance above and beyond what I expected even from a veteran touring band. The venue sounded and looked beautiful, and both the band and the audience put in a lot of effort to make the night very special. All the songs were enjoyed in hushed awe and rewarded with enthusiastic applause. By the end, half the room were up dancing while the other half were moving and clapping in their seats, to the surprise and delight of Vetiver, who admitted this was rare before treating us to a second encore.
I emailed Vetiver’s Andy Cabic to ask how he felt about playing in Bedford:
“We had a blast. I must admit, sitting in the green room prior I had my suspicions. Walking around outside beforehand, seeing hardly anyone around, I feared the worst. But that room is great, the sound on stage was excellent and the audience surpassed most of the crowds we’ve played to so far on our brief run across Europe. Bedford turned out to be one of the best shows of this tour. So thanks to your friends and those who came without even knowing what they were getting into, much like we did!
I hope you can keep the room open and good artists rolling through it. It’s a nice one.”
So it saddens me that with audience turnouts this small, it will be difficult to sustain a healthy stream of good live acts of this level into Bedford. I do think the audiences are here, I am certain that there are many people in Bedford to whom this would have appealed who knew nothing about the event or else hadn’t heard of the band and didn’t want to take a chance.
As I overheard someone say on the night “Bedford can do better than this!”
The outlook isn’t all grim though. Bedford is again being factored into tours by booking agents, the revamped Bedford Esquires is making efforts to get bigger outside acts and there’s an increased awareness of arts and culture in general in Bedford (helped no end by We Are Bedford and The Clanger of course).
So it’s hats off to East West promotions for booking great bands, but they can’t do it without the people showing up. If you like live music; go to the next one, and if you enjoy yourself, tell a friend and go again! Let’s beat Bedford apathy together!
