Business News Deals Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Live Nation takes controlling stake in Switzerland’s Openair Frauenfeld

By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 11 July 2017

Continuing in its seemingly unstoppable bid to own every fucking music festival in the world – it’ll be trying to buy the remnants of the Fyre Festival next – Live Nation has taken a majority stake in Switzerland’s Openair Frauenfeld.

This event began life as the rock and pop orientated Out In The Green in 1985, before relaunching in its current guise, which is more urban music focused, in the mid-2000s. All your tip top rappers and urban music peddlers have played there since, with The Weeknd, Usher and Nas headlining the latest edition last week.

Confirming that it is now the majority shareholder in the Swiss fest, Live Nation’s Andre Lieberberg said: “We are incredibly proud and excited to partner with Openair Frauenfeld, which sees us add one of the world’s finest festival brands to our portfolio. The partnership will give media and our brand partners a unique platform for the Swiss and German speaking markets. We look forward to working with First Event AG to build and grow this unique festival brand, offering an unparalleled festival experience to thousands of fans”.

First Event AG promotes Openair Frauenfeld. Did I mention that? Well, it does. Look, here is the company’s Chair and the founder of Openair Frauenfeld, Wolfgang Sahli, with the last word: “We believe joining forces with the world’s leading live entertainment company, Live Nation, has given us a strong and innovative partner with which to continue to grow and evolve Openair Frauenfeld. We are truly looking forward to our partnership”.