St. Gallen Back On Track

It missed out on a sellout last year because the European soccer tournament meant a few punters had other things on their minds, but this year St.Gallen OpenAir got back on track by reaching its 30,000 capacity once again.

It’s a different story from the one written a little less than a decade ago as the 1999 and 2000 editions were close to being the festival’s last. It was facing bankruptcy with debts of around $1.5 million.

The sympathy of the creditors and some financial help from the local authority kept it alive long enough to celebrate its 30th birthday, but since then it’s had a major resurgence and has sold out six of the last eight gatherings.

This year the weather was mixed and the rain that set in on the Saturday landed on ground still wet from the storms that came earlier in the week, which turned part of the site into a mudbath.

Festival booker Christof Huber says it didn’t hurt the great atmosphere, and the weather brightened on the final day to allow the event to finish bathed in sunshine.

The acts helping St. Gallen along June 26-28, come rain or shine, included Nine Inch Nails, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Cypress Hill, The Flaming Lips, Mando Diao, Editors, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Streets, The Gaslight Anthem, The Sounds, Get Well Soon, The Aggrolites, and Birdy Nam Nam.