Fruit Bats & Vetiver (Patronaat, Haarlem 09-12-2009)

In some post earlier I mentioned that I went to the Roots of Heaven festival in Patronaat, Haarlem. Unfortunately that festival didn't turn out to be what I hoped for that evening, but to make things better that same concert ticket gave you free admittance for another concert a couple of weeks later: a show from Vetiver and Fruit Bats! Infact I was already planning to buy a ticket, so it was a nice freebie :)

Unbelievable that I would see Vetiver for the second time this year. When I first heard of them I was instantly hooked and I immediately placed them on my concert must-see wishlist. Little did I know it turned out to be that easy! That evening I was feeling a bit tired and lazy and was asking myself if I should go... Silly me, because it would be an awesome evening!

Fruit Bats where the first to perform:





Wonderful show, and wow; singer Eric Johnson has such a great voice! I was really enjoying myself with their music. Infact, I heard their music for the first time the week before this concert. Their latest album 'The Ruminant Band' was released this year and received some nice ratings. After their show I went to the merchandise and found out they brought along all of their albums. Nice! When I was standing in front of the booth, the lady from the merchandise noticed my camera case. She asked me if I was taking pictures and we had a nice conversation. She happens to be a photographer too and shot a couple of shots of the show with a vintage analog camera. Place two photographers (although I wouldn't consider myself a photographer as I still have a long way to go) in one room and all hell break loose ;) Really a nice chat and I went back to the venue for the show of Vetiver. The last time I saw them was just a couple of months ago in the Paradiso, but I was still pretty excited!









The show from Vetiver was amazing! It's too bad there weren't a lot of people in the audience (I wonder why because the Patronaat has a truly impressive program), but Vetiver gave a wonderful performance and their music sounds so pure and beautiful.

I went back to the merchandise to bought some cd's (well, I bought all of the Fruit Bat's albums and one album from Vetiver I was missing in my collection). I found out that the lady from the marchandise is no less than Alissa Anderson! she's responsible for the picture used on the cover from Vetiver's album 'Thing of the past', which is one of my favorite pictures:


Not only did she shot this picture, but she's also the photographer of Joanna Newsom on her album 'The Milk-Eyed Mender' (and Joanna Newsom is a goddess). So have a look at her site with lots of amazing photos! What an inspirational person and I honestly feel privileged to have talked to her :) So in the end this regular Wednesday afternoon was something quite extraordinary!