Our love for smaller and somehow different festivals is growing. I had the chance to visit one of these gems: Stars In Town – which takes place right in the heart of the old town in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The festival spreads over 2 weekends (Wednesday-Saturday and Thursday-Saturday the week after) and offers a wide variety of music styles and genres. It starts with a special called ‘Super Wednesday’ as opening day and in 2023 it was a ‘Rock’n Roll Super Wednesday’ and the main reason for me to go there.

The venue itself is located on a larger public square called ‘Herrenacker’ with the great advantage that the stage is set at the end of a slightly downhill side, guaranteeing a perfect view for almost anyone (please see our photo impressions further down). Surrounded by a number of bars and food stalls, only very short waiting queues are seen. In addition with the kindness, happiness and overwhelming hospitality of the organization as well as the Swiss people, this event is something very special. Every visitor was offered free noise protection and due to the expected rainfalls later in the evening received a free rain cover. Simply unique – never have seen this before.

The ‘Super Wednesday 2023’ – as well as the festival – was opened by DANKO JONES. A guarantee for a full throttle show of straight and pure rock’n roll. Starting at 6:30 pm on time, the sun was still shining right onto the stage on a hot and humid day. Danko Jones, J.C. and Rich Knox added to the sweat of the audience and themselves on stage by performing a set mixed of old and new songs, including some stuff from their new album (e.g. ‘Guess who’s back?’ which was already #1 in German Rock charts). The result was a crowd engaging directly with the band; you always can see the fun the band has on stage when they play, and this spark jumps over to their listeners almost immediately. Funny thing this time was that the band ‘lost its identity’ during their set when a stiff breeze did blow into their backdrop, and it falls down behind the backside wall of the stage. Danko wouldn’t be Danko if this was not giving him the opportunity to some funny words about it live on stage. Their fantastic set ended after a full hour with ‘My Little R’nR’, simply classic and a good opportunity for a sing-a-long.

Next band to excite the audience: ROYAL REPUBLIC from Sweden. This 4 piece combo originating in Malmö is another highlight of Sweden’s vast rock scene. Adam Grahn, Hannes Irengard, Jonas Almén and Per Andreasson entered the stage dressed in black-leather jackets, white shirts and their trademarks: every band member is wearing a pearled necklace. The level of action on stage was pulled up another notch. Singer Adam Grahn is whirling around on stage and the conductor of the audience. Funny dance moves and grimaces all over through the whole set. This show was highly entertaining, even though their last full studio album was released in 2019 (Time for new stuff, guys!). Even the rain that started in the middle of their set couldn’t stop the good mood in the crowd. That was a worthy second highlight for this night.

Wasn’t there another band? Yes, there was. We are very sorry to say so, but the management of the German rock-band with punk-roots that was the main act for this night had decided to cut out a number of media representatives and photographers. GRIMM Gent was part of this cut-off media along with others for reasons unknown to us. Due to these circumstances, we do not bring up photos or text for this band here. Instead, you’ll find some impressions of the venue as the third gallery of this article.

But anyway: a visit of Stars In Town in 2024 is highly recommended.