Avo Goes For Headline Sessions

This year’s Avo Session in Switzerland looks to have benefited from having an international headliner for every show, as at press time it looked as if all 13 sessions would sell out.

The annual series of concerts in the 1,500-capacity Messe Basel has always had a reputation for staging top-flight entertainment, but in previous years the headline shows have been interspersed with other nights when there have been as many as three smaller acts making up the bill.

There are still some three-band bills, but this year each night features an international headliner.

The run of shows ends with Simple Minds and Lovebugs Nov. 15, and will have included performances from Scorpions, UB 40, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Jones, James Morrison, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Grace Jones and Snow Patrol.

All of the concerts are recorded and broadcast in up to 40 countries on Swiss Television, Arte, Telebasel and 3sat networks, which is a potential audience of 150 million households.

The majority of concerts are also broadcast on Switzerland’s DRS1 and DRS3 radio stations