The 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 organizers 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 center 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.

The organizers of the Basel Military Tattoo work closely with their Edinburgh counterparts, inviting the overseas groups scheduled for Edinburgh to the Basel event. As the date in Basel comfortably predates Edinburgh, overseas bands tend to accept Basel’s invitation to add additional appearances to their European venture.

Basel has duplicated the exact measurements of the Edinburgh parade ground to provide the visiting bands with an added training possibility to straighten out any trip ups prior to appearing in Edinburgh. And obviously, for Top Secret the event is the major yearly appearance in years when they are not due to appear in Edinburgh. In addition to the overseas bands, invitations go out to many European bands.

If you are unable to get tickets but still would like to get in on the musical part of the Tattoo, you should schedule your visit to Basel to coincide with the Street Tattoo during which all the participating groups present themselves in a parade through the historic city center. Starting in the Freie Strasse they parade by way of the Marktplatz and over the Rhine River to the barracks building further down the Rhine.

For tickets, watch the announcements of the organizers closely. The tickets usually are put up for sale in December for the show of August the following year. If you miss the first 24 hours of sale, you might still be lucky in procuring one of the packaged deals, but they are quite expensive.

Further reading
Museum City: Basel
Lost and Found: Britannic's Organ
Europa League: Chelsea FC vs FC Basel