Cazfest 09 – “A milestone in the history of live music in Bishop’s Stortford”

Cazfest was a music festival in memory of Caroline Johnstone, who passed away on June 12th 2008 at the age of 17 for reasons that have not been properly explained to this day. Her death affected many people – so many that the Johnstone family and students and teachers at the Bishop’s Stortford High School were able to organize a music festival in her memory that successfully attracted 2500 people. All ticket profits were donated to the charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young).

A few years ago if you asked a Stortfordian where the nearest live music venue was they would probably have said “The Square in Harlow” or “The Marquee in Hertford”. How times have changed since then – Bishop’s Stortford could now be considered the area’s most important showcase of upcoming talent with Rhodes Rocks, Club Blub and now Cazfest all having been established in a short period of time. Few other venues away from Bishop’s Stortford can claim to have presented acts as large as Sway and Billy Lunn (Subways), making Cazfest a milestone in the history of live music in the area.

So why has live music been able to flourish in Bishop’s Stortford? Look again to Cazfest for your answer; 2500 music fans attended a festival near Stortford (and sung their hearts out to songs by Billy Lunn and Sway). This shows that there are a massive number of dedicated music fans in the Bishop’s Stortford area - more than enough to keep local venues going and encourage new ones to develop.

But local venues can’t survive with just music fans - they need bands, and that’s exactly what Stortford’s getting by the bucket load, all young and mostly talented… At Cazfest a huge number of the bands were made up of under-18s who will only improve and develop their skills, promising a bright future for music in the area. Bloodshot Summer (www.myspace.com/bloodshotsummer) is just one of these bands, and I felt honoured and privileged to be part of the excitement of Cazfest by playing on the main stage alongside such big names. This was a turning point for live music in Stortford as well as for Bloodshot Summer, and with rumours circulating of a Cazfest next year, it seems that things can only get better from here.

Charles Berthoud – Bloodshot Summer