After visiting last year’s Super Wednesday, that opens the 2nd week of STARS IN TOWN, I went to see the (Super-)Friday in 2024. This wonderful festival in the heart of Schaffhausen old-town is spread over 2 week-weekends. The first weekend (Friday & Saturday) starts and the following week it runs Wednesday until Saturday. Daytime the big place is open to the public and each evening it will become a festival infield with a very special charm.

The warm hospitality of the Swiss, the charm of the historic old town, and the lovingly designed festival grounds all contribute to falling head over heels for this event. Equally admirable is the wide range of musical styles, ensuring that fans of all genres find something to suit their personal taste. This year’s Super Wednesday featured the German music icon Herbert Grönemeyer as the headliner. Classic Rock on Thursday with Swiss local heroes KROKUS and the indomitable Status Quo. Friday – alternative and independent was on the menu – what more could a fan’s heart desire?

The size also gives a special flair that is hard to describe and personally, I prefer it to the huge events with tens of thousands of spectators.

Why do I think this year’s edition is a Super-Friday? The line-up. Opened by German alternative-punk-rock five-piece DONOTS, followed by EDITORS and finally closed down by PLACEBO.  That is simply super in my opinion.

DONOTS – started with English language song material in the early nineties and changed to German lyrics in 2015. Their style is somehow hard to describe, but there are still punk influences included. Opening up this evening, they have to fight with the high temperatures of approx. 30 °C and the sun shining directly into the stage. Loads of sweat after a few minutes. Being a German language band is their advantage when getting contact with the audience. Furthermore, vocalist Ingo Knollmann is entering the crowd to sing a song in the middle of a circle pit. Adding some more amusement is their willingness to learn Swiss swearing expressions and trying to pronounce it correctly in ‘Schwytzerdütsch’, the local dialect. A great opening act who has won the heart of the crowed completely.

EDITORS – UK based indie-pop is on the menu next. With a musical style often reminding of JOY DIVISION and other UK indie pop giants, they put a show and playing a large variety of their material, including their hits like ‘Papillon’. After the sun had set, the stage and the lighting added another notch to their stage performance. Even though they did not seek the contact to the audience as close as DONOTS did.  Anyway, they got the audience moving and dancing, providing a great gig which was honoured by the crowd.

PLACEBO – last but not least. A real heavy-weight in the alternative and independent scene ever since their great breakthrough to a wider audience with the hit single ‘Every you and every me’, which was part of the movie soundtrack for ‘Cruel Intentions’. Being a kind of its own, they did prove this at STARS IN TOWN again. Taking over the stage screens and the cameras on their own direction. Opening the gig with a longer speech by singer Brian Molko, asking the audience not to use mobile phones during their performance on stage to shoot photos or record private videos (which the ‘Placebo Security’ took pretty seriously from the pit scanning the crowd in their reach in view and acting to stop the mobile phone users).  Besides that, the stage performance was professional and covering the whole musical bandwidth of their 29-year-long career. Supported by a great light show and graphics on the large screen of the stage. Closing the night and the stage action close to midnight and leaving a very satisfied, happy audience.