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Bergenfest – The First of The Festival Twins Allan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
Visiting Bergenfest for the festival’s first edition as the ‘twin’ of Leicester’s Summer Sundae event, we journalists could not have received better hospitality from the organisers or from the Norwegian City. Leicester will have to look to its laurels when returning the favour to a Bergen delegation! But how does a city in the midlands of the UK find activities to compare with lunch on a mountain top accessed by cable car with – when the clouds cleared – a more than spectacular view, and another lunch at a restaurant accessible only by boat, which cultivates its own seafood? Coda’s Rob Challice and his Summer Sundae team, and the Leicester City Council are, I’m sure, working on it! If the Association of Independent Festivals idea of twinning international festivals is to work then the local authorities must offer support, after all the tourism opportunities are obvious, and who knows what other cooperation’s may evolve. After years of initial disapproval, followed by grudging tolerance, followed by a realisation of just how much in both economic and cultural terms, a festival brought to various locations, national, city and regional authorities have in many cases come to realise that festivals are quantifiable assets, and that they should work with, rather than restrict, the organisers. The report on The Great Escape elsewhere in this issue includes a message of support from a city Council representative. Some realised the worth of these events earlier than others.
Frode Aasheim, Manager of the Bergen Convention Bureau, part of the Bergen Tourist Board, told VIP-News, “Bergenfest started in 1993, and is now one of the leading music festivals in Norway. The festival has during the years made the city of Bergen highly visible on the musical scene, both nationally and internationally. The festival received the Prize of Honour from Bergen Tourist Board in 2001 for ‘Excellent Marketing of Bergen’, and I am sure that the twinning of Bergenfest and Summer Sundae, not only will strengthen both festivals in the years to come, but also further contribute to promote our city as an exciting and popular destination for cultural events. We highly appreciate it and are looking forward to working even closer with Bergenfest in the future.” Bergenfest promoter Frank Nes was equally as hospitable as the City, and concerned himself with all aspects of our promotional visit. VIP-News spoke to him about the event, his relationship with the City, and his year round business: Frank Nes: We do all year round promotions through a company called Bergen Live www.bergenlive.no, a company with six employees which promotes shows in Bergen. This company also has a management agreement with the foundation that promotes Bergenfest. Bergen Live promotes some 45-50 shows a year. Over the last few years we have sold between 135.000 – 145.000 tickets per year for the Bergen Live promoted shows. In addition Bergenfest attracts about 35.000 punters yearly (the festival is presented over 5 days – this year April 27 – May 2.). Bergen’s population is approximately 250.000, thus a large chuck of the city’s population attend shows. VIP-News: When and how did you start promoting, and what acts have you have worked with over the years? Nes: I started with concert promotions as a student in the early nineties at a club then called Maxime. Then, for ten years I worked
Frode Aasheim, Manager of the Bergen Convention Bureau
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Bergenfest
with Bergenfest as a part time employee along with being head of the western Norwegian branch office for Norway’s fiction writers. In 2001 I joined Stageway, then the largest artist management and agency in Norway, and worked with concert promotions and artist management. From 2003 onwards I have worked full time with Bergen Live and Bergenfest. Acts I have worked with are as diverse as they can be, I guess. With Bergenfest we present just about any type of musical genre you can think of. (This is true, on this visit to Bergenfest I saw Randy Newman, The Residents (very strange!) The New York Dolls, Femi Kuti and various rock acts – very eclectic! – Ed.) This is also the strength of the festival. Acts include everything from Robert Plant, Neil Young and Nick Cave to seminal world music and folk acts. With Bergen Live we have promoted acts such as The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen and Foo Fighters at the main open air venue Bergenhus Festning – a 22.000 capacity medieval fortress in the middle of the city - but we also do small club shows with artists like Jackie Leven and The Handsome Family, to name a few. We pride ourselves in treating the artists and our audience in such a manner that they leave our show and Bergen wanting to come back. It’s as easy as that, really. Being a local promoter is basically being able to supply the goods all the way through the supply chain, and you must acknowledge that everyone is important to make a show a success. VIP-News: Has the City always been as supportive as it now appears to be? How’s the competition - is Live Nation a worry to you?