Celebrating its 20th Birthday this year, Europe’s longest established winter festival of its kind, The BRITS kick off in Laax, Switzerland on 28th March for the week to 4th April and boasts it’s biggest ever music line-up.
Headliners include DJ sets from The Go! Team, Vadim, Mickey Finn, and Bonobo with live sets from Gentleman’s Pistols, Kandi Coded, Kovak and a very special guest to be announced. The BRITS music line-up looks set to offer something for every musical taste covering, Rock, Hip-Hop, Funk, DnB, Electro Pop and some good old Cheesy 80’s classics for the BRITS 20th Birthday Bash.
Each day DJ’s will be positioning themselves in snowy strongholds around the mountain to blast out tunes across the slopes and Championship action.
Off the hill it’s into the bar for a spot of après with live daily DJ and acoustic sets from the likes of Ben Howard and Joel Erith, then home, wash-down, and back out in time for one of nightly club sessions. Just remember, it’s a marathon…not a sprint!
To celebrate 20 years of the BRITS, Switzerland Tourism will be flying over very special guests, which will soon be announced to host the BRITS fancy dress 20th Birthday Bash! (Come as anything beginning with the letter “B”). Firmly grasping the party reins on the last night of the BRITS at the Riders Palace, the BRITS ‘B’ Party will top off the week with a night of classic 80’s tunes and flash dancer fever moves.
As well as a celebrated winter festival, The BRITS plays host to the prestigious British Snowboard and Freeski Championships that unites kids, rookies, pros and Olympians. The Championship action comes courtesy of the Trespass Snowboardcross/Skiercross, Quiksilver Big Air, Animal Slopestyle and SNO!zone Halfpipe.
BRITS packages start from £269 which includes seven nights’ accommodation, six days lifts pass and most importantly your BRITS event pack and wristband, which gives you access to event clubs and bars. So to join the 1000 or so revellers that will be hitting the BRITS for a week full of freestyle, music and mayhem and for a full music line-up.
The line up and schedule for the second Altitude Comedy Festival which kicks off in Meribel next week has now been announced.
The 2009 comedy line-up includes Marcus Brigstocke, Ed Byrne, Andrew Maxwell, Phil Nichol, Ardal O’Hanlon, Omid Djalili and the Comedy Store Players – all playing multiple gigs.
The Festival debuted last year and proved a successful mix of snow, sun and fun predominantly for the thousands of Brits in resort but also with French comedians performing for French speakers and even some of the British performers attempting to deliver their routines in French.
Altitude 09 kicks off with a gala performance on Saturday, 28th March and runs through to Friday April 3rd with dozens of events through the week staged daily between 11am and 3am.
Performance costs range from free-of-charge up to 25 Euros and venues from small cafes on the slopes to the resort’s biggest venues. Passes covering multiple events at a discount are also available.
Besides comedy there are plenty of live music performances with KT Tunstall headlining with a concert at the Olympic ice rink in aid of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as well as many other acts from different musical genres.
On top of the music and comedy there are fun events on the snow including races and snowball fights. The more serious British Land National Ski Championships, boarder cross and big air competitions are also taking place during the festival.
The festival is keen to be green, with founder comedian Marcus Brigstocke a passionate campaigner on climate change. One euro is donated to the WWF for every ticket sold.
Spain’s leading resort, Sierra Nevada, will offer half price ski tickets after the Easter holidays and have announced that the season will last for an extra fortnight to at least mid-May because of all the snow.
The resort, Europe’s most southerly, currently has five metres (17 feet) of snow on its slopes and 100km (63 miles) of piste open. The discounted lift pass will be available from April 20th to May 15th.
Other Spanish ski resorts are almost as well endowed and have between 170cm (six feet) and 260cm (12 feet) of snow.
