Open Air St. Gallen is an annual music festival held near the city of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Founded in 1977, it is one of Switzerland’s biggest and longest-running open air festivals. It is attended by more than 110,000 people each year.

The founder of the OpenAir St.Gallen festival is Freddi ‘Gagi’ Geiger. Back then, organising discos and concerts as a hobby. Gagi and his fellows are eager to create a platform for regional and Swiss bands in particular. They are fascinated by the idea of generating a peaceful community experience on a beautiful festival site on which camping is allowed. Gagi wants to enable the visitors to “have a deep experience, to communicate and get to know each other“.

Open Air St. Gallen 1977: The first OpenAir took place on the Ätschberg in Abtwil and attracts 2048 visitors. 13 bands play, amongst them all notable Swiss groups including Krokus, which years later become the internationally most successful Swiss rock band of all times. After a power blackout due to bad weather Toni Vescoli and Alexis Korner save the night by playing with a battery operated small cabinet for a tightly bunched audience.