Three world stars have been secured for the Schladming ski opening: The three concerts will take place from December 6th to 8th in the Planai Stadium.

The ski season in the Schladming-Dachstein region will open in December with concerts by Bryan Adams, Sting and Simply Red. The three world stars will perform in the Planai Stadium on December 6th, 7th and 8th under the title "The Grand Festival", it was announced on Monday at a press conference in the presence of the musicians.

Bryan Adams will open the concert series on Friday, December 6, with his hits, but also with songs from his new album, which he wrote during the pandemic. He "hated and loved" the Corona pandemic at the same time, because he had a lot of time for his family, he said at the press conference on the Reiteralm.

Sting will then perform his hits with his new band on Saturday, December 7th, because "people want to hear them." He will, however, play his songs in a new way, because he has reduced them to their "musical essence" for the current tour - "and they still work," promised the Brit.

Mick Hucknall from Simply Red is celebrating his 40th stage anniversary and will be going on tour. Fans can expect a foretaste of this on December 8th in Schladming. He also wants to play his hits, similar to Sting.

All three of them have never been on stage together, and not on consecutive days like in December. Sting and Bryan Adams have, however, played on the same stages several times. And Hucknall revealed that he once opened for The Police with his first band at the tender age of 18. But they have never performed as a trio before, they assured.

Since cold to icy temperatures are expected in December, the three musicians were each given a loden blanket as a present after the end of the press conference.

The previous year, the Planai-Hochwurzen-Bahnen, as the host of the Planai, had already attracted a world star to open the season with a double concert by Robbie Williams . Around 25,000 fans watched the two concerts live and cheered the Brit on.

As in the previous year, the Leutgeb Entertainment Group will be organizing the concerts. CEO Klaus Leutgeb described the background: "After last year, coming up with an idea to top that wasn't easy. The hardest thing was getting three international artists to a press conference. That's normally a no-go - it's something very special to welcome these three at a press conference."

Governor Christopher Drexler (ÖVP) said that Styria would become "even more unique with this ski opening". He wants to be there for all three days and thanked the Schladming-Dachstein region and the organizer Klaus Leutgeb for their commitment, "because this madness is needed". Drexler is convinced that this year's ski opening will top last year's. (APA)

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