Basel Tattoo ..

Every year in August, the Basel Military Tattoo is the magnet for over 80,000 people. It sounds like an old event, but it started out as late as 2006. But Basel has a long and living tradition of Pipes and Drums, so the event took to the city like a fish to water. If you can’t manage to get tickets for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, you might want to try to get tickets for the Basel event. I say ‘might’ because to get tickets in Basel you have less than 24 hours in which to order them, they get sold out within hours. This is not only due to local interest alone, but because the Tattoo presents an excellent program on a yearly basis. With over 80,000 visitors every year it is reckoned second only to Edinburgh in size. 

While there were sporadic Tattoos held in Basel over the years, these were always organized on a one of basis. This only changed when Basel’s most famous drum act Top Secret attended the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2005. The organisers behind Top Secret decided at that point to add a Basel Military Tattoo to the calendar.

The event takes place in the old barracks (Kaserne) of Basel which had been converted into a cultural centre a few years back. The late 19th century structure lends itself to hosting such an event, as it encloses the old parade and exercise grounds on a lavish scale. It also has an excellent acoustic set up. It is probably the only Tattoo taking place anywhere in the world on the door steps of a mosque which is located in the old barrack buildings.