Ahead of all: It was NOT the last Snowpenair. The event will take place at least twice more. But if it had been the last time Snowpenair, it would have been a super nice end.
New station, new organisation
At my last visit to Snowpenair I got off the train from Interlaken Ost and the run started on the mountain traini. If you were unlucky, you had to wait half an hour until you could squeeze into the next one. Of course nobody wanted that. This time, however, everything was different. I got off the train and was confused. Was I right here? Where were the mountain trains to get to Kleine Scheidegg? They always used to be right in front of my nose. Well, somehow following the crowd, I would find it then.
Behold. Since my last visit to the Snowpenair the Lauterbrunnen station has been rebuilt. Thus, it went from the arrival track around the station building, where you could read on big posters “please keep tickets ready” and “here no ticket sales” on them. And I only had discussed with someone that they probably only occasionally controlled random samples. Otherwise that would hardly work.
The passengers lined up, tickets were checked and a little further ahead, there were further barriers in front of the entrance to the underpass and the tracks. The people were counted. Although there was still a lot of pushing , in the end the whole thing seemed much more organized than the last few years. With the two women I sat next to in the train, I had the best company. The journey to Kleine Scheidegg became very entertaining.
Despite better organization I arrived late though. The first act had already started. That really never happened to me before. Was I traveling earlier last time?
Bright blue sky and summery temperatures
It was really warm at the beginning of the concert and was supposed to get even warmer during the day. The few little clouds that still surrounded the mountain peaks in the morning, later disappeared. Sun hat, sun glasses and sunscreen were once more mandatory. In addition, hats were given again. It was wonderful!
While many open-air visitors still arrived, strengthen themselves with coffee, croissants or yes, the first beer, and set themselves up at the hill, the Interlaken rapper Julian had kicked off the 21st Snowpenair. It was sold out with 9500 spectators for the 15th time.
With his four-piece band, in which his sister sings as a background singer, Julian, also known as MC Juli, presented songs from his album “Verrisse”. He got the crowd into the mood pretty well. In the end, however, I was rather undecided as to whether I liked the music or not 😉
Marc Sway brought the Brazilian summer up the mountain
It was totally different with Marc Sway: Some of the visitors thought that Marc Sway did not fit on the mountain and that he was somebody, you’d go to see in other places, I thought his concert was really great. In colorful floral summer pants he entered the stage and beamed with the sun to the bet. He and his band brought the Brazilian summer to Kleine Scheidegg.
The highest in Brazil is the Jesus statue, Marc was laughing. That’s why he told his mother that Snowpenair was taking place at 6000 metres above sea. But no matter how high or where you are, with the right people, there is always a good party. So he asked “Do you feel the same?” in between.
In addition to various Brazilian songs and sounds, followed by wild solos and even raps, there were some language lessons with Marc: “All I know from 7 years learning French is that I learned French,” he grinned during his song “Mon Cheri”. The lyrics are simple, but well. Yeah, he obviously has followed the discussion and the media statements the days before 😉
On the other hand, he also taught us “saudade” (I hope I have spelled that correctly lol), after him the most beautiful Brazilian word. It means as much as homesickness or longing. Switzerland was the best example for this and so he expressed his gratitude with the song “The Way Back Home” to have grown up and to live here. He accompanied this between one of his songs with a small “Vogellisi” insert – “… Berner Oberland isch schöön”. On the other hand, for his most difficult and complicated song, “Frauen verstehen” (understanding woman), he said that one does not have to understand the women, but simply love them with all your hearts.
Already at the beginning of the concert he had asked the audience to move closer to the stage. At the top it got pretty crowded. Since this did not seem to work, Sway immediately jumped into the audience during “You Got To Love” to remedy the situation. But because of all the selfie wishes, he almost did not get to sing and animate people.
Back on stage, the concert soon came to an end. Of course, in the encore his hit “Severina” could not be missing.
A real alpine party with Trauffer
Have the vibes been very good so far, they rose several times as soon as “Dä mit de Chüeh” – the one with the cows – entered the stage. 80% of the audience had probably come because of Trauffer. It definitely felt that way.
Not for the first time at Snowpenair, Trauffer and his band have been on their almost completely sold-out tours since March with the new, platinum-winning album “Schnupf Schnaps + Edelwyss” and have made a stopover at Snowpenair with their complete Alpine party, including a chalet. The chalet stood, the fountain splashed and the flags were waved. Even “Frl. Marty ” was quickly found in the audience.
Next to my new favorites the beautiful “Schärischnitt” (have a look at the official video) and “Heldin”, there was a medley consisting of “zjung für mi”, “Zwätschgelisi”, “Zumba” and “Gipfel”. The latter, of course, with choreo. There was also a choreo with the “Burebüebli” chorus. The whole mountain moved synchronously. As you can see in the Trauffer video, an incredible sight from the stage (link here). With the new song “Liire” there were even some reggae beats and also a short Stubete was not missing.
To “Bier + Cervelat” they rocked in the leather jacket and like Marc Sway Trauffer went down into the audience, even twice. First he made a ditch to the mixing table, to hear whether everyone really sang along. The second time he discovered a bachelor party that drew attention to themselves with a large, self-designed banner. He personally went to congratulat to the future husband and wished him well.
To “Müeh mit de Chüeh” everyone was swaying again, before they ended the concert with the much-discussed “Geissepeter”.
Trauffer is on tour until May 26th, before the festival season follows. If you are lucky enough, you may get the one or other ticket, especially for the additional shows. Everyone best will get a ticket for the big Hallenstadion show on November 23, 2018. At the only autumn concert Trauffer will be celebrating with guests (yes, who those will be, I’m wondering as well) the Schnupf schnapps Schnaps + Edelwyss final party, before he wants to take a longer break.
Soon no more Snowpenair?
It was followed by another break, which presenter Sascha Ruefer once again use to spurte the audience on and to animate them to be noisy. Many may well know that Snowpenair will end in about two years. After the opening of the new express train, the Snowpenair will not take place because of objections. So everyone may annoy the person responsible for this objection a bit and make a lot of noise. They have not given up yet, but a new location is not sure yet.
Amy let the music speak
It’s a pity how this develops, as even Amy MacDonald, who was the last act on stage this Saturday, thinks that it is one of the most beautiful openair festivals besides festivals like Montreux.
Last seen a year ago at the Samsung Hall in Zurich (read here), she again opened her show with my favorite “Under Stars” from her current, same named album. We are all pretty hardcore to stand there in t-shirts surrounded by snow, she said. But in the sun you could really stand it well and you had to be careful not to get sunburned.
Soon she realized that obviously only a few understood her English, with the Scottish dialect, and just let her music speak. Some had actually gone directly after Trauffer. The others, who had even nuzzled their noses, she had quickly surprised and convinced of her and their music. Of course, their fans danced and sang along from the beginning.
Sometimes she rocked with her band to famous hits like “Mr Rock’n’Roll”, “This is Life” or “Dream on”. Then she just stood on stage with the guitarist only or even on her own to play “4th of July” or “Pride” in reduced acoustic versions. She also let the audience sing along to “Slow it down”.
My snowpenair highlight
“Automatic” or “Life in a beautiful light” were some of my favorites, but Amy MacDonald was my Snowpenair highlight this year in general. I like her special voice along with beautiful, insightful ballads on the one hand and the catchy, pop-rock songs in the middle of the snow, with a clear blue sky and warm sunshine on the other. These were the perfect 1.5 hours to really enjoy and unwind.
Aftershowparty with Kandlbauer
First eating and drinking before it continued with the after-show concert of Daniel Kandlbauer. He ended the evening with his rock / country songs, his own songs and some cover ones. One of these covers was Adele’s “Rolling in the deep”. That sounded really great! By the way, Trauffer accordionist Thomas was playing the keys in the band.
I did not really know where this little after show stage would be. Some talked from down in Grindelwald on a square. I thought that was super impractical and was already disappointed. I would not have wanted to make the stopover 😉 But logically, the organizers did not make it so complicated and the small aftershow stage stood at the top, next to the entrance. Just on the opposite side, from where I entered the area.
But I couldn’t make it to the very end and left for the next train home shortly before. Funny coincidence: I met the two concert visitors again, I had met going up.
This was once again a wonderful open air and a great day.
And who’s coming next year?
The next Snowpenair will take place on April 6, 2019. Honestly, with the announcement of DJ Antoine as the first Act, the organizers could not score a bit with me. And I had the impression that I was not the only one. But they will surely have booked a great band? 😉 We will later learn about.
How did you like this year’s Snowpenair? And who would you like to see on the next Snowpenair stage?
all the Snowpenair photos you can find [HERE].
Info about the bands you can get here:
Julian
www.marcsway.ch
www.trauffermusic.ch
www.amymacdonald.co.uk
kandlbauer.ch
