Chris Götz

He first visited Samnaun in 1998 as a technical assistant for the band Smokie. Since then, he hasn’t missed a single concert at Alp Trida. As stage manager, he has spent decades coordinating the various departments—including visitor information, mountain railways, stage construction, technical services, production, and the artists—ensuring that everything runs smoothly.
 
The staff at Samnaun Mountain Railways know exactly what they need to do; they’ve been a close-knit team for years. Chris has a friendly relationship with the mountain railway staff, just as he does with the Carnot family at the Hotel Romantica in Samnaun-Compatsch, where he has been staying for many years. The nice thing is that he gets to interact with so many different people. That’s how friendships are formed. These personal encounters are priceless.

Chris always reviews the artists’ technical riders—the requirements artists set for the organizers—but up on the mountain, of course, not everything listed in the riders can be implemented. He knows exactly what’s possible: Melissa Naschenweng would have liked a catwalk extending into the audience, but that’s simply not possible at Alp Trida.

Together with the task force at Alp Trida, he is responsible for the safety of artists, staff, and fans before, during, and after the concert. Fortunately, Chris has never had to deal with a truly critical situation. The weather is a crucial factor at this altitude. In the past, there were fewer rules and regulations, but safety is becoming increasingly important at events. That’s why the infrastructure at the Spring Snow Festival is now more professional and expensive than it used to be.

For Chris, every concert is a challenge. He’s convinced it’s like in sports: you need a certain amount of tension for things to work well. He likes it when the details are just right, too—like the perfect alignment of the stage, so it’s a treat for all the music fans.

The bigger the challenges on stage seem, the calmer Chris appears. When difficulties arise, Chris doesn’t rush; instead, he approaches the problem calmly and begins thinking of a solution along the way. Chris played music himself for a long time. That’s why he knows exactly how a musician feels. His goal is for the musician to be able to focus fully on the concert. As stage manager, Chris takes care of the rest. What’s important to Chris is that the artists are satisfied with their performances.

He has a story to tell about almost every concert and every band that has performed at Alp Trida: The Spring Snow Festival takes place outdoors at 2,300 meters above sea level, come rain or shine—it’s nothing like a concert in a hall. At the Status Quo concert in 2006, there was still 5 cm of snow on all the instruments just an hour before the show started. Everyone pitched in and quickly cleared the snow; it turned out to be an unforgettable concert.

It also snowed heavily during the 2000 edition, but the ABBA cover band Björn Again pulled off their show professionally, looking sharp and dressed rather lightly.

At the Jimmy Cliff concert in 2008, it was spring-like and warm. Jimmy Cliff was thrilled by the great view from the terrace on Alp Trida and smoked a joint while taking it in. The mountain air probably made the joint a bit more intense; it took Jimmy Cliff some time to get back into shape for the concert. That, too, turned out to be a wonderful concert.

Chris usually likes to set up the sound system the day before so he can check everything. At the 2022 concert with the No Angels, however, they couldn’t do that because the equipment didn’t arrive at Alp Trida until around noon—just before the concert: The bus driver transporting the equipment got lost on the way and even ended up getting stuck. With a police escort, they finally made it to Samnaun. The equipment was rushed to the stage at Alp Trida. There was one hour left to set everything up. When time gets that tight, even Chris gets a little anxious. Fortunately, the technicians were pros, so the concert was able to start on time. After the soundcheck and the start of the concert, he was able to relax and enjoy listening to the No Angels.

Samnaun has often demonstrated a knack for selecting the right artists: When Status Quo performed in 2006, it was their first concert after a long hiatus, ahead of their Asian tour. The band viewed the Samnaun concert as a warm-up. That’s why they were able to bring the band to Alp Trida for a relatively low fee. Die Toten Hosen in 2005 and Sunrise Avenue in 2013 came to Samnaun for a relatively low fee, but in return, these bands stayed in Samnaun for another week to ski.

Chris Götz has organized around 4,000 concerts in his life; during his most active years, that amounted to about 160 concerts per year. For him, his health is paramount. As long as his health permits, Chris would like to continue working as the stage manager for the Spring Snow Festival.

Chris Götz doesn’t have a favorite band or favorite records, nor does he have a preferred music genre. At home, Chris has over 1,000 records spanning a wide variety of musical styles. In the early years, he often worked at heavy metal concerts, but he also managed Schlager festivals for many years.

In addition to music, Chris has found another passion in his life: years ago, his best friend gave him a sapphire, which he turned into a stud earring. From that moment on, he was determined to visit the place where sapphires come from: Queensland, about 300 km inland from Brisbane on Australia’s east coast. There is an area there as large as the canton of Zurich, where 80% of all the world’s sapphires come from. He went there for the first time in 2000 and has since been there five times. He enjoys the meditative work of searching for stones in the dried-up riverbeds. He doesn’t know Australia at all, only the sapphire fields. During his last visit, he found a large gold nugget, which he always proudly wears on his necklace and proudly shows to the camera during the filming of his portrait.

Video: On Air AG, Photos: Mario Curti; swiss-image.ch