The 25th SnowpenAir was opened on Saturday by Juraya. They got the crowd fired up with their enthusiasm and lively performance. The five musicians from Switzerland spread good vibes with their powerful and melodious music. This was followed by Gotthard, more Swiss rock at its finest. Just like their first appearance, the band with lead singer Nic Maeder and guitarist Leo Leoni were able to wow the audience at their fourth SnowpenAir performance.
Simply Red captivated the audience not only with well-known hits such as “Holding Back the Years” and “If You Don’t Know Me by Now”, but also with many other songs from their catalogue stretching back over forty years. The 4,700 festival fans were carried away by the perfect mix of soul, funk and reggae. The band fronted by lead singer Mick Hucknall guaranteed a successful SnowpenAir party on the first day of the festival. The weather lived up to the name SnowpenAir, alternating between snow flurries and sunshine.
After Simply Red, the dancing continued seamlessly in Terminal Square. Many festival fans partied to the music of DJs Moser and Schelker until 19.30 h.
Sunday is dedicated to Swiss dialect. Three dialect bands, Stubete Gäng, Heimweh and Gölä, will take the stage to give the audience goosebumps and get them singing along. They all promise a successful finale to the traditional event, being held on the Männlichen for the second time, and for the final time after 25 editions.
Anniversary, not finale
“We’re not celebrating the finale, but the 25th anniversary”, says Jungfrau Railways Director and SnowpenAir founder Urs Kessler. “The long tradition of SnowpenAir is coming to an end with a wonderful anniversary and a big festival party.” Urs Kessler, gave the reasons for the final edition: “Firstly, fees have risen again after the coronavirus crisis. This makes it almost impossible to hold such a festival with high-quality artists and a limit of around 6,000 music enthusiasts and turn a profit. And secondly, more and more competing events have emerged in recent years and certain signs of saturation are becoming noticeable.”
For the 25th edition, around 40 tonnes of material were used. Around 250 volunteers were involved. The concert budget is 1.8 million Swiss francs.
