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Five unmissable on-piste music festivals in Switzerland this spring

Spring skiing in Switzerland means sunny days, blue skies and slopeside music festivals. Put these in your diary.

Published: 13 March 2017 10:37 CET
Five unmissable on-piste music festivals in Switzerland this spring
Photo: Leander Wenger/Zermatt Unplugged
1. Rock the Pistes, Portes du Soleil, March 19th-25th
 
Photo: Rock the Pistes
 
Spanning two countries, a whole week and myriad on-piste gigs, this is a festival of epic proportions. On the Swiss side, Champoussin, Les Crosets, Champéry, Torgon and Morgins are all hosting concerts, or ski over to the French resorts of Morzine, Châtel, Les Gets or Avoriaz for more music and mayhem.  
 
2. Zermatt Unplugged, Zermatt, April 4th-8th
 
Photo: FlorianAeby.com/Zermatt Unplugged
 
Founded in 2007, this is one of the best-known music events in the Alps and attracts big names to the bill. This year’s line-up includes Ronnie Scott’s All Stars, Nelly Furtado, Michael Bolton, KT Tunstall, Jess Glynne, Paolo Nutini and Turin Brakes. Concerts take place in various locations around Zermatt village and in the ski area, including at the Gandegghütte, at 3,000m altitude.
 
3. Caprices, Crans-Montana, April 6th-9th 
 
Photo: Caprices
 
Focusing mostly on electronica, Caprices attracts around 28,000 clubbers to see over 30 artists and DJs across four days, with gigs staged in various locations around the slopes.
 
4. Snowopenair, Kleine Scheidegg, April 8th-9th
 
Photo: Jungfrau tourism
 
Celebrating its 20th birthday, this high altitude festival will see German rock and roll band The Baseballs, Austrian folk singer Andreas Gabalier and other yet-to-be-announced special guests perform against the backdrop of the mighty Eiger mountain. 
 
5. Impulse, Verbier, April 15th-16th
 
Photo: Catherine Antonin/Verbier tourism
 
French singer-songwriter Zaz and Geneva band Kadebostany will be playing to skiers on the beautifully-located stage near the Carlsberg bar on this late-season weekend. 

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FESTIVAL

France’s Fête de la musique ‘will go ahead, with masks and a curfew’

France's famous summer music festival the Fête de la musique will go ahead, but with health restrictions in place, says the culture minister.

Published: 18 May 2021 16:09 CEST
France's Fête de la musique 'will go ahead, with masks and a curfew'
Photo: ABDULMONAM EASSA / AFP

Culture minister Roselyn Bachelot, taking part in a Q&A session with readers of French newspaper le Parisien, confirmed that the annual summer festival will go ahead this year on its usual date of June 21st.

The festival date is normally marked with thousands of events across France, from concerts in tiny villages to huge open-air events in big cities and street-corner gigs in local neighbourhoods.

Last year the festival did go ahead, in a scaled-down way, and Bachelot confirmed that the 2021 event will also happen, but with restrictions.

She said: “It will be held on 21st June and will not be subject to the health passport.

“People will be able to dance, but it will be a masked party with an 11pm curfew.”

Under France’s phased reopening plan, larger events will be allowed again from June 9th, but some of them will require a health passport (with either a vaccination certificate or a recent negative test) to enter.

The Fête de la musique, however, is generally focused around lots of smaller neighbourhood concerts.

The curfew is being gradually moved back throughout the summer before – if the health situation permits – being scrapped entirely on June 30th.

Bachelot added: “I appeal to everyone’s responsibility.

“The rate of 50 percent of people vaccinated should have been reached by then, so we will reach an important level of immunity.”

The Fête de la musique is normally France’s biggest street party, with up to 18,000 events taking place across the country on the same day.

It’s hugely popular, despite being (whisper it) the idea of an American – the concept is the brainchild of American Joel Cohen, when he was working as a music producer for French National Radio (France Musique) in the 1970s.

By 1982 the French government put its weight behind the idea and made it an official event and it’s been a fixture in the calendar ever since. 

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