The 39th edition of one of Switzerland’s largerst music open-air festivals came to a brilliant end after 4 Days in mid’ July. 75,000 cumulative visitors - almost 44,000 different people (unique visitors) - livened up the “Hausberg” and enjoyed four days of sunshine and a true festival full of music, joy and party.  The return of the Gurtenfestival after 2 years of absence cannot be described as anything other than fantastic, even if such a generic adjective seems inappropriate. With splendid weather, very well attended concerts throughout, an atmosphere that cannot be described as anything other than a joyful to euphoric peaceful togetherness and various musical highlights, the 2022 edition will definitely go down in the Gurtenfestival history books. 

Musical diversity with numerous highlights
The importance of the diversity in the programme, which has often been a topic of discussion in the media in recent weeks, was only confirmed on the site - the composition of the people on and in front of the stages and the variety and breadth of the musical programme created an extraordinarily beautiful, joyful and euphoric atmosphere on the grounds. Acts like Erykha Badu, Megan Thee Stallion, Seeed, Little Simz, Balthazar, Anitta and The Chemical Brothers left a lasting impression on Bern and each other.
It was not uncommon for artists to be found in the audience of their colleagues before and after their concerts. For example, Arlo Parks and Kokoroko with Erykah Badu. The attention and responsiveness to the audience at each concert stood out: One moment a bursting full tent stage, the total demolition with Skepta - the next atmospheric devotion and devotion with Erykah Badu. Not to forget the moment on Thursday evening when the Gurtenfestival made worldwide (cultural) history and went viral: When Erykah Badu climbed the stage with Megan Thee Stallion, showed off her twerk skills and delivered, in Megan's words, "real mf texas shit, real mf hot girl shit": From Daily Mail to Complex and The Fader - they all covered this Gurtenfestival moment!

It wouldn't be Güsche if there weren't several Bärn highlights as well! Jeans for Jesus set the Waldbühne on fire, Chlyklass cleared the main stage, Sophie Hunger & Bonaparte enchanted the tent stage - and the list goes on...

A total of 64 bands played on the 4 stages, of which about 50% were Swiss bands, the female quota was also 50%. The carefully curated DJ line-up with a total of 74 acts from the three Dancetents Soundgarden (with a new building that turned the Ostsignal into a veritable club), Supermercado and Cosmodrome ensured almost continuously full dance floors already in the afternoon until 5 am. There was a surprise on Friday when "Baobab Forever" was on the programme at 9.15 pm at Soundgarden - behind the name was none
other than Nativ, who made the full Dancetent shake like there was no tomorrow.

Programme+ (plus)
The new food concept proved its worth. The visually upgraded food areas and stands were enjoyed by a large number of visitors, and the varied and diverse offer received a lot of positive feedback. The first festival-owned, purely vegan food stand in collaboration with Outlawz, the good mood food stand, not only enlivened the audience with its colourful appearance and a small water sprayer, but also with a wide selection of delicious, fresh festival classics. The afternoon beatmaking workshops by Helvetiarockt in the Soundgarden enjoyed great popularity and interest. The newly designed festival store with various merch items, including upcycled products from Rework and Bazaar, was very popular - a selection of handmade products from Bern will be available in the festival webshop from the end of July. The VIP area shone in new splendour. It was completely redesigned by Bernese designer Annabelle Schneider, also because of the new observatory located there, and invited visitors to linger in different areas.