Yokko, Birdy and Hurts - 7 August 2014

Schaffhausen boasts an enchanting old town with gabled houses, cobbled streets and the Herrenacker: a medieval square lined with trees - and the charming setting for Schaffhausen's annual Stars In Town festival. Uriah Heep, Tom Odell and Amy MacDonald were just some of the musicians featured this year.

On the second evening of the festival, Swiss band Yokko kicked off proceedings with their friendly indie-pop, adding the occasional retro synths to the mix. The band were clearly having fun on stage, an enjoyment that radiated outwards into the crowd. What a great thing to see home-grown talent be so well-received, and deservedly so.

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English singer-songwriter Birdy was up next. Birdy learnt to play piano at an early age and started writing her own music before she turned ten. She had her first hit with Skinny Love at the age of fourteen and has released two albums in the last few years.

Now eighteen years old, Birdy stepped onto the Schaffhausen stage a veteran performer. Yet she seemed shy, sitting at the piano for the majority of her set and letting the music speak for itself. Her voice is of an astonishing expressiveness - even though her music is very quiet, especially in a festival setting, her voice managed to enthrall the audience.

The music itself was lovely but a tad inoffensive; a bit more oomph wouldn't go amiss. The second half of Birdy's concert did pick up speed once she strapped on a guitar. Throughout the show, she was ably supported by her four-piece band.

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Headliners Hurts were the main draw of the evening, their rise to fame in the last five years meteoric, particularly in Switzerland. The band have played in this country so often that singer Theo Hutchcraft has perfected his "merci vielmal" with a spot-on Bernese accent.

Hurts do a nice line in grandiose 80s-tinged synth-pop, a sound explored by Hutchcraft and pianist-guitarist Adam Anderson over the course of two albums. They started their Schaffhausen set with the vocally challenging Mercy, and Hutchcraft, usually a flawless singer, initially struggled to hit the right notes. It took a few songs for his voice to warm up and reach its full potential. When it did, as in the acoustic Blood, Tears and Gold, it was joy to behold.

Ever the charismatic frontman, Hutchcraft interacted with the audience throughout the concert, throwing out white roses, blowing air kisses and animating the crowd to mass arm waves. The band were visibly moved by the spirited audience reaction. Set closer Better Than Love lifted the roof off the stage and had the whole square jumping.

Good music, a gorgeous setting and clear blue skies - that's the recipe to a perfect summer festival right there.

- Anna Wirz