Locarno, a Friday evening in July. On the Piazza Grande, Moon & Stars is under way, one of Switzerland’s big summer festivals. Just behind it, on the Piazza Piccola, stands a second stage. On 18 July 2025, MAXiN played there.
The square between the old houses was full. Above the stage the arches glowed blue and pink, haze drifted through the light, and in front of the stage the hands went up.
A year later, in July 2026, we were back at Moon & Stars.
In front of the stage
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The festival
Since 2004 the Piazza Grande in Locarno has become a concert arena for around ten evenings every July. On the square where the film festival puts up its screen in August, artists such as Joe Cocker, Depeche Mode and Stevie Wonder have performed over the years.
In 2025 the festival ran from 10 to 20 July, with Zucchero, Gianna Nannini, Amy Macdonald and the Scorpions among others on the main stage. According to the organisers, more tickets were sold than ever before.
The Piazza Piccola
The Piazza Piccola lies directly behind the Piazza Grande. During the festival it is the heart of the Food & Music Street: bars, food trucks and free concerts every day. People meet here before and after the big shows, and those without a ticket for the Piazza Grande celebrate here anyway.
Party band in Ticino
Since 2023 we have played the summer party at Giardino Ascona every 1 August. There was a wedding at Hotel Eden Roc on the shore of Lake Maggiore, another at Lido di Bissone on Lake Lugano, a summer evening in Magadino and now the festival in Locarno twice. When a company moves its summer party to Ticino, we travel with it. The bandleader has Italian roots, and we also sing in Italian, for a whole set if you like. More under Party band Ticino.
The photos
The photos are by Lorena Widmer and Andreas Wyss of Mood Studios and another photographer.
