Openair Gampel

Openair Gampel is the August festival in Gampel-Bratsch, in Valais, on the Rhone. The local greeting is iischi Party. Wikipedia leaves it from 1986, every August. The first, under the name Rockfestival, was put together by the band Family Force, from Gampel, and Freepower Music: a truck trailer served as the stage and about 500 people came in. Besides Family Force, Span, from Bern, headlined. In 1987 Thomas Tscherry decided to repeat it every year and founded a club. They moved from the sports field to a hangar, with tents, and about 3,000 people. That year, Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash. In 1988 the name was Internationales Rockfest, with Nazareth. In 1989 the stage came out in front of the hangar and Tscherry drew the ibex on the logo. In 1991 the festival went to Raron, three days, and about 8,000 of the 30,000 planned came back. In 1992 it returned to Gampel and first used the name Open Air Gampel, with Marillion, Gary Moore and Eric Burdon.

Wikipedia says the Rock Hock Verein commissions the festival to Open Air Gampel AG. The site footer writes Rock Hock Club, post box 208, CH-3940 Steg. The office is Niedergampelstr. 83, CH-3945 Gampel. The phone is +41 27 932 50 10. The mail is info@openairgampel.ch and bands write to bewerbungen@openairgampel.ch. In festival week the office opens Monday to Wednesday, 9:00 to 11:30 and 14:00 to 16:00. A tickets card says Gampel and Turtmann are neighbouring villages, split by the Rhone, and that the name Openair Gampel stays. A crowd list places the grounds at Festivalgelände Am Rotten. In 2004 the festival moved to four days and counted 79,000 people. In 2006 it passed 80,000. The same Wikipedia says it has been yearly since 1986. Pomona calls 2026 the 40th. The crowd list has no 2020 card. The three stay together.

The homepage, read on 28 September 2026, still says see you and names a five-day August. Those digits are not printed. It also draws tickets for that date among people who send a comment. August 2026 is already lived. The official plan runs from Wednesday the 19th to Saturday the 22nd, with a White Stage and a Red Stage. On Wednesday, Madstone, Genderbüebu and Sixties Club. On Thursday, Sombr closes at 11:30 p.m. On Friday, Kygo at 11:30 p.m. On Saturday, Bligg at 6:30 p.m., Sens Unik at 7:45, Hecht at 9:00 and Marteria at 11:45. A questions page leaves the close on the night from Saturday into Sunday, with an after until Sunday the 23rd at noon. Pomona, on 22 August 2026, calls Saturday the last festival day. The two stay together. On 23 August, Orfa Schweizer counts 76,000 people, fewer than in earlier summers. Olivier Imboden, head of communications, says it was calm.

The review that closes songs is the one of Saturday 19 August 2023, by Sarah Morgenroth in szenemagazin, with photos by Dario Stähelin. Years and Years open with a dance and a phone box on Night Call. Olly Alexander sings. A version of It's a Sin, by the Pet Shop Boys, lifts the crowd. They close with King. At 8:00 p.m. the review skips Nessa Barrett. Hecht come on at 9:00 on the Red Stage, 75 minutes. Stefan Buck, the singer, throws himself into a mosh pit the review calls friendly and comes back whole. For Prosecco the band puts on astronaut suits, dances a launch and lets off pyrotechnics. They say goodbye. The crowd waits for the encore and nobody is there. Hecht appear on a round podium in the middle of the people. Buck returns to the stage on a paddle board over the heads and, from there, carries Kawasaki. They release giant balloons. Charlotta crowns the set. They say that, after a gin and tonic, they stay to watch Peter Fox.

The same review compares Hecht's slot with Macklemore's and counts a felt majority of 100,000 people back to the food stalls. Hecht were born in Lucerne and live in Zurich. In 2012 they received Best Talent National. Dario goes to Alle Farben, on the White Stage, and closes no song: he writes that the DJs hide behind the desk. Before 11:30 the Red Stage fills for Peter Fox. The review says Hecht remain the high point of that weekend and that Fox also gives a large show. Fox comes out in a green leather suit, with Benji Asara on the raps, two dancers, a very involved drummer and a large band. Behind, chosen fans dance on a balcony with a Berlin dance group, which in the breaks plays with flamethrowers. Fox brings people up from the front row. Toscana Fanboys and Zukunft Pink, it writes, delight the crowd. Alles neu, Haus am See, Schüttel deinen Speck and Stadtaffe stay as hits the review says people know, not as closed titles of that night. Fox fiddles with the headphones again and again and, at the end, slips off the beat.

The site is kept. August 2026 has passed and the homepage still points to a later August, without those walked pages closing a song by Kygo, by Marteria or by Hecht on that weekend.