Swiss Review 3/2021

Swiss Review / June 2021 / No.3 21 Report Imagine all the people Featuring 300 acts, it was the biggest music festival ever to be announced in Switzerland. They called it the Ghost Festival for good reason, because it was never going to happen – and never did happen. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of music lovers paid for tickets worth up to 100 francs each. An exercise in pure imagination – and solidarity. MARC LETTAU Festival posters usually contain line upon line of names – the headliners in large font, the lesser-known acts in much smaller type. No such placards have been on display around Switzer- land for months. Venues are shut, fes- tivals cancelled. We all know why. But then the placard promising everything began appearing every- where at the start of the year. Stephan Eicher! James Gruntz! ZüriWest! Lo& Leduc! StefanieHeinzmann! Some 300 acts, from top billing to the obscure – all in strict alphabetic order, all in the same font size. It was a mega event. And it was called the Ghost Festival. “Elaborate safety precautions” This despite a nationwide ban on gath- erings of more than five people. The promoters had taken “elaborate safety precautions” to enable “up to eight million festivalgoers”. But here’s the thing – the festival dates were 27 and 28 February, there were no actual Higher, further, faster, more beautiful? In search of the some- what different Swiss records. This edition: the big- gest Swiss music fes- tival that never hap- pened. Without the usual headliners in large font, the festival poster was a flat-hierarchy cross-section of Switzerland’s music scene. e tremes Swiss