Vera (music venue in Groningen, the Netherlands)

VERA is an abbreviation of 'Veri Et Recti Amici' ('True and sincere friends'). Vera was founded in 1899 as a debating club and later became a student association. In 1974, Vera became a music, cinema, and dance club.

Vera runs on volunteers who are members of the Vera club. There is some paid staff, including the music programmer. From 1980 to 2021, Peter Weening was Vera's programmer. The style of music that has predominated at the music venue over the years is rock, from indie and post-rock to punk and metal. It also features reggae, electronic music such as hip-hop, drum 'n' bass and techno, and avant-garde/experimental music. Since 2021, Peter Dijkstra has been Vera's programmer.

The posters for Vera performances are renowned. They are designed by volunteers from the screen printing group. The posters are made in an edition of less than a hundred and are often sought-after collector's items. The book "Rockin on Paper" (2006) about Vera's history includes prints of 350 posters made in-house. In 2020, Willem Kolvoort exhibited his Vera posters at the Groninger Museum.^[1]

Bands before they became famous

Over time, several artists have appeared on Vera's stage and later became big. Some bands have performed at Vera several times. This overview shows the year of their debut:

Most performances are by bands from Western countries. Regularly bands from Japan also play, including Acid Mothers Temple, Boredoms, Cornelius, Envy, Guitar Wolf, Melt-Banana, Mono, Otoboke Beaver, and Shonen Knife. Other Asian bands came from South Korea (Jambinai), Thailand (Khana Bierbood), Mongolia (Hanggai), and China (Carsick Cars). African artists came from Algeria (Imarhan), Ethiopia (Etenesh Wassie; Fendika; Getatchew Mekurya), Ghana (Gyedu-Blay Ambolley; Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band), Mali (Samba Touré; Tamikrest), Niger (Les Filles De Illighadad; Mdou Moctar), Togo (Togo All Stars; Vaudoo Game), and South Africa (Gert Vlok Nel; Jack Parow). Several artists were also from Latin America, from countries such as Brazil (CSS), Chile (Föllakzoid), Colombia (Meridian Brothers; Los Pirañas; Romperayo), Mexico (Lorelle Meets The Obsolete; Mint Field), and Puerto Rico (Davilla 666). From Jamaica, for example, came Anthony B., Chronixx, Jah Mason, and Pat Kelly.

Eurosonic

Every year Vera is a Eurosonic stage. During that festival, numerous bands performed at Vera that became famous soon after, including Franz Ferdinand (2004), The Libertines (2005), Ben Howard (2011), Bastille (2013), Royal Blood (2014), Oscar and the Wolf (2015), Dua Lipa (2016), IDLES (2017), Black Midi (2019), Fontaines D.C. (2019), Black Country, New Road (2020), Squid (2020), and Dry Cleaning (2020).

Poll

Every year a poll is conducted among Vera visitors. Over the years, several famous bands have won the poll. There is a Wall of Fame in Vera's Main Hall with all the winners of the poll. No foreign artist has performed at the Vera as often as

• Ricky van Duuren en Niek Schutter: Rockin on paper. The Vera club. A history in posters. Spoetnik & VERA Groningen, 2006.
  ISBN 90-90-21438-0
  With DVD Excerpts from the VERA video archives

• Website of Vera