Gurtenfestival 2016

Bern's Gurtenfestival is an annual delight. There are views of the Alps, cows in fields, scorching temperatures and many many musical highlights. There's also a unique atmosphere that can only be found at comparatively small festivals; at festivals that you've been visiting for years on end, where you're on a first-name basis with all the security people and colleagues in the photo pit. The English Show's resident music freak and intrepid photographer Anna Wirz braved four days of the festival to bring you pictures galore.

The Waldbühne stage hosted Swiss bands from Yokko to Faber to Anna Känzig and Baschi. On the Friday, local heroes Pablopolar blew everyone out of the water with their melodious pop, a rousing set by Gentleman & Ky-Mani Marley on the main stage notwithstanding. Friday's headliner Passenger was a revelation: a man and his guitar alone on a huge stage who managed to spellbind a weekend party crowd.

Saturday saw the musicians come off the main stage and walk through the crowd - 77 Bombay Street did it, Bastille singer Dan Smith did it, and Travis took it one step further by sitting on the shoulders of an audience member and singing from there while watching his own band on stage.

The main stage turned into a sweltering furnace on Sunday, with acts such as John Newman and James Bay - who triumphed with a rendition of "Rolling in the River" - melting in the heat. South African singer-songwriter Jeremy Loops was the secret star that day, getting the crowd raving. (Here's the English Show's interview with him.)

My personal highlights happened on the very first day of the festival: Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls were, as always, a joy to listen and dance to. And the usually more sparsely populated Thursday was sold out thanks to headliners Muse, who were their customary epic selves.

The audience was curiously apathetic during their set, however, standing stock-still or chatting amongst themselves as the band thundered through "Psycho", "Supermassive Black Hole", "Hysteria", "Time Is Running Out" and many other propulsive classics. Granted, a complex 10-minute epic like "The Globalist" isn't for everyone, but the general lethargy was still odd. Good thing the front rows were on fire - these were the hardcore fans delighting in Muse's bonkers sound and dancing as if there was no tomorrow.

Photographs of many of those mentioned above, plus Rea Garvey, Michael Kiwanuka, The Lumineers, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, and Royal Republic are here on Flickr.

- Anna Wirz