History

A sold-out festival under a blazing sun

An exuberant party atmosphere, picture-perfect weather, top organization and a colourful mix of top-class music: these are the necessary ingredients that contributed to the success of Openair Gampel 2023. The organizers can look back on a virtually sold-out festival; almost 100,000 tickets went over the counter on this glorious August weekend. 41 bands, 47 DJs and an extensive supporting program provided festival-goers and the OC with four days of carefree partying in exceptional summer weather. The organizers are delighted with the success of the event and are very positive about the outcome. Not only the numerous musical highlights, but once again the peaceful course of the event contributed to this.

Extraordinary gratitude at the heart of the festival

After the 2020 edition had to be cancelled, it was finally time again: the 35th Open Air Gampel went off peacefully and without incident, in strict compliance with all safety regulations. More than 25 bands, 50 DJs and around 30,000 festival-goers brought some normality back into life after months of forced break during three days. The organizers are extremely happy about the successful event and draw a very positive balance. Not only the numerous musical highlights as well as the cheerful weather, but above all the overwhelming gratitude of the audience, the artists as well as the organizers characterized the 35th Open Air Gampel.

Around 40 bands, dozens of DJs and over 110,000 festival fans transformed the Gampjer festival grounds into a veritable party witch's cauldron over four days and four nights. The organizers draw an extremely positive balance. Stable visitor numbers, numerous musical highlights, a festive but peaceful audience and wonderful weather characterized the 34th Open Air Gampel. Musically, the fantastic stage show of Kygo, who heated up the audience as Friday's headliner, could hardly be surpassed. Somewhat more minimalistic in the presentation, but not the less powerful was the performance of the Finns Sunrise Avenue, who had traveled to the Valais valley bottom in 2019 not only for their gig, but additionally for their honor: They received this year's star on the famous Walk of Stars. Other highlights were Bligg, Lo & Leduc, Anderson.Paak, Loco Escrito and Stefanie Heinzmann.

115'000 festival visitors celebrate exuberantly in Gampel. This meant two visitor records: firstly, in terms of total numbers and secondly, for the first time in the festival's history, a single day was completely sold out with more than 35,000 admissions, namely on Friday evening. The weather showed its sunny and hot side during the four days.

Hard to beat was the 2-hour show of the Toten Hosen, spiced with plenty of power, who kept their promise "We'll be back" after the cancellation of 2015. First dressed as Helmut, but then in his usual getup, Campino and his boys thrilled the 35,000 fans with an energetic performance. The electro acts Paul Kalkbrenner and Milky Chance provided plenty of dancing pleasure, while great moments were guaranteed by Swiss artists. Both during the concert of young star Nemo and Lo & Leduc , the area in front of the Red Stage was bursting and the latter were honored by the municipality of Gampel-Bratsch and were able to unveil the coveted star on the Walk of Stars shortly before their performance. The only downer from a musical point of view was the cancellation of Lil Wayne on Thursday, who could not take the stage for medical reasons.

The 30th anniversary edition of the Valais festival set two records: For the first time, the magic sound barrier was exceeded on a single festival day, namely on Saturday, with over 31,000 visitors. In addition, the festival set a new record for attendance by Sunday evening with over 104,000 visitors. Musically, the anniversary edition was marked above all by the cancellation of Der Toten Hosen at very short notice. Within a few hours, Kraftklub could be found as an almost adequate replacement. The band members of the 'Hosen' traveled to Valais anyway and apologized personally to the audience - a great gesture. Also convincing was the light and sound show of The Prodigy, the Canadians of Simple Plan and the merciless party with the "Leider geil" band Deichkind.

Satisfied the visitors, who enjoyed great concerts by Tenacious D, Biffy Clyro, Billy Talent, Xavas, Parov Stelar Band, Flogging Molly, as well as Gentleman and Max Herre, with lots of sun and an incredibly beautiful mountain backdrop; here and there the audience also discovered some new bands, such as the Irish high-flyers Kodaline or the sound tinkerers of Kyasma from Lower Valais. But also the organizers are satisfied, who registered a total of 86,400 visitors over four days and can sum up a very peaceful and relaxed Open Air overall.

The balance of the 2011 edition is almost perfect. More than 85,000 visitors celebrated "iischi Party" in Gampel. The team clearly had the most problems with the heat. In 'Gampel', tropical heat temperatures of up to 35 degrees prevailed over the entire weekend. The program was also "hot": Not only the convincing performances of The Offspring, the sensational light, laser and sound show of Chemical Brothers and the Swiss exclusive comeback of the Berlin dancehall stars Seeed knew how to convince. Smaller acts, such as the likeable DJ Fritz Kalkbrenner, the Norwegian girl quartet Katzenjammer and the melodic punk rock of NoFX also thrilled the masses. Other highlights also included Adel Tawil with Ich + Ich and The Baseballs on Sunday, as well as the German number one rockers Guano Apes.

The 24th Open Air Gampel was marked by infrastructural changes. The new smaller and more cozy arranged area was well received by the audience. The biggest change was probably stage 2: It was now called "PlayStationStage" and was no longer covered, but "Open-Air". Changes that were very well received by the audience. Musically, the two British headliners Snow Patrol and Kaiser Chiefs, the newcomers The Ting Tings as well as the Swiss Stress, Patent Ochsner and Bligg were convincing. Over four days, around 72,500 visitors attended the Valais festival.

The last big open air of the Swiss festival summer 2007 was a successful one: Clearly more than 80'000 open air fans paid a visit to the small 'Gampel', in the middle of the Valais pampas. Musical highlights were on Thursday evening Tool with their brute video staging, Within Temptation with sex and a lot of voice; on Friday evening Gypsy-Punk by Gogol Bordello and mass phenomenon Die Ärzte; on Saturday Nobel-Hip-Hopper Stress, Sportfreunde Stiller and the Scottish rockers of Travis provided a lot of goose bumps. On Sunday, Gentlemen thrilled with its swaying reggae and the Canadian top quartet Billy Talent.

In 2005, 'Gampel' celebrated its 20th anniversary. The promoters set off a veritable fireworks display of highlights. Thursday was the real highlight: At the birthday party, guests from the past 20 years performed. Led by Joe Cocker, who first ensured a full house in 2000; followed by raggae legend Jimmy Cliff and German rockers Reamonn and Liquido. Besides, it was a festival of innovations: For the first time, they launched an actual party zone, which was open almost around the clock; a stage 3, where more cover bands or local up-and-coming bands played after the end of the concert and with GampelFM, they even launched their own festival radio. And there was something else that made the anniversary edition special: As with the first edition, it only rained once - from the beginning to the end of the festival.

Three days full program - three days sold out! With 54,000 visitors, the 50,000 mark was broken for the first time. Thus, Gampel ranked second among the festivals in German-speaking Switzerland - directly behind OpenAir St. Gallen, but ahead of the Gurtenfestival. At the end of the Swiss festival summer, Gampel presented an actual program of headliners: Simple Minds, Him, Melanie C, Eagle Eye Cherry, Heather Nova, Keziah Jones and Seeed!

In 2001, Gampel once again wrote a success story: 8,000 spectators on the Special Day with DJ Bobo before the festival and around 43,300 visitors from Friday to Sunday at the festival itself brought the Valais Open Air another record number of spectators. Thanks to the adapted spatial distribution of the site and the improved infrastructure, the crowd could be handled without any problems. Musical headliners were without a doubt Deep Purple on Saturday evening. Their show, packed with good old rock'n'roll, thrilled more than 16,000 visitors on Saturday alone. Other treats were Papa Roach and Reamonn.

In 1999, over 30,000 visitors stayed in Gampel for the three days! This was the first time that the Open Air exceeded the magic limit of 30,000 people. A Swiss named Gölä stole the show from all the established international guests. Boy George and his Culture Club also put on an unforgettable performance. A glamorous conclusion was achieved by the organizers with Gianna Nannini and the many white doves which rose as peace ambassadors into the Valais sky.

In 1997, for the first time, the organizers were able to win over not only DRS3 but also its French sister Couleur3 as a partner! Musically it was a year of change. One wanted to correct the image of the Oldie Treff. Clawfinger, Therapy?, Apollo 440, Keziah Jones, but also "more mature" music greats like Angelique Kidjo and Jimmy Cliff were present. The first lady of Swiss dialect rock Sina could stand on the home stage for the second time in 1997.

In 1995 the organizers celebrated their 10th anniversary. As a big musical innovation, the musical HAIR was performed on Sunday. And this performance pleased the audience and probably also the weather god, because just as the troupe sang the well-known banger "Let the sunshine in" the sun came out and drove away the rain clouds. Zap Mama, Bob Geldof, Johnny Glegg and Neil Young were also on stage.

The poster from 1993 was designed by Zermatt artist Heinz Julen. With DRS3, the organizers were able to win the national radio station for the Open Air for the first time: their sphere is probably still remembered by many. Musical highlights this year were: Fish, Inner Circle, Eduardo Bennato and Mother's Finest.

For the first and only time, the Open Air Gampel did not take place in Gampel, but in Raron. The organizers tried to make a big splash and set up an area for a total of 30,000 people. The expectations of the organizers were not fulfilled - only 8,000 people made the pilgrimage to the Open Air. In order to minimize infrastructure costs, the festival was extended from two to three days for the first time. As the first Open Air in Switzerland, the organizers offered the visitors a real supporting program with bullriding, mud fight, artists and a trial show. The music program also brought something new. For the first time there was a theme night. Friday belonged to the women with Guesch Patti, Nina Hagen and Vera Kaa. Status Quo and Mory Kanté were also on stage.

While in the two previous years the stage was still in the hangar building, in 1989 the stage was placed in front of the hangar. For the first time, the logo with the ibex, still known today, appeared on the advertising posters. This logo was created by Thomas Tscherry, the head of Open Air at that time. Next to Emma Zita and the Upper Valais band Slaves of Jazz, a very famous Upper Valaisian was on stage: the rock musician Steve Thompson. He appeared with a Valais flag.

Due to the extremely positive experiences of the first edition, Thomas Tscherry came up with the idea of organizing such a festival every year in 1987 and founding a separate association for this purpose. For the first time the festival was extended to two days. Because of this, visitors could now also camp on the grounds. In addition to camping, the still young festival had a canteen and two stalls on offer. The organizers moved from the sports field to the hangar, using the hangar building as a stage, while the approximately 3,000 visitors listened to the music "open air". Headliners were Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash.