Mando Diao bring Zermatt Unplugged to a close

The fourth edition of Europe's largest acoustic festival is now history. Over five days, 25 bands rocked the Matterhorn village in 45 concerts and adopted the "unplugged" concept in an unexpected way. At least 15,000 festival-goers enjoyed the unique atmosphere.

When Gustaf Norén, the singer of the Swedish rock band Mando Diao, appeared on stage in his socks, it was clear that the last concert of this year's Zermatt Unplugged would exceed all expectations. The audience included Anni-Frid Princess Reuss von Plauen, the A from ABBA, and the Swedish ambassador to Bern, Per Thöresson – both of whom would be appearing at the Meet & Greet after the show. Mando Diao dedicated the song "All my Senses" to the Swedish pop queen.

The Mando Diao concert was completely sold-out, as was that of OneRepublic. There were also only a very few empty seats at the concerts of Roger Hodgson, Seal and David Gray. It was not the number of tickets sold that really impressed Festival President Thomas Sterchi, but much more the festival atmosphere, which was enjoyed and praised by the visitors, sponsors and musicians alike: "The overall experience, with the Zermatt location, the festival and the idea of playing acoustic music here, is a concept that will continue to develop. I am convinced that more and more artists will show an interest in this, and will even approach us, in order to offer the public a different and unusual show." The British singer Seal hit the nail on the head in an interview with Swiss Television in the "10 vor 10" programme: "I think that the nature here is absolutely perfect for playing acoustic music."

The highlight in the Vernissage Club was the concert of Naturally 7, with a guest appearance by Claude Nobs, Monsieur Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Roc Kidz Crew. Sina and Marc Sway played to enthusiastic audiences in the sold-out Vernissage. Martin Jondo was the popular figure of the last evening of the festival, and Duncan Townsend, who released his new single "Painted like a Picture" today in Great Britain, won many new fans, such as Roger Alton, editor of The Times: "I'm now coming to Zermatt to discover English talent."

With the new Hotel Backstage from Heinz and Evelyne Julen, the festival has also gained an additional, important new side location, in which a unique meeting point has been created for the musicians. And the ski and toboggan runs were also extensively celebrated by the stars: Seal went snowboarding, and Duncan Townsend built a rock'n'roll snowman on Rotenboden before tobogganing down to Riffelberg with his team. OneRepublic, the boys from Colorado, will certainly be moving a little more stiffly on the stage at their next concert in Vienna, after two members of their band rocked the Zermatt ski slopes.

There were also great moments on the New Talent Stages: In all, 14 bands played more than 30 free concerts. The most popular locations this year were the Cervo, with 77 Bombay Street as the highlight, and the Foyer marquee, to which Stevans from Geneva, to name but one, attracted more than 1,000 visitors.

'Like' our Award Winning facebook page and be entered into a draw to win 1000 CDs including rare, signed and promotional copies here!