Basel Tattoo 2012

What are these signs we’re seeing about a big “tattoo” festival in Basel in July? Will it be like Haight Street in SF and will we see celebrities from LA Ink?  Oh wait, it’s not about ink, but rather music. Huh. The festival is the second largest (after Edinburgh) to feature orchestras from all over the world performing famous catchy tunes, and artistically choreographed march sequences with fireworks. Ok, so it’s basically a gigantic marching band festival!  There was a free “Bon Jovi” concert on Sunday at a nearby park with three of the bands performing at the "tattoo", so we went to check it out.  We’re still not sure why the concert was called “Bon Jovi” ?? (they didn’t play their songs and I tried translating the phrase but came up with nothing), but the Pipes & Drums of the 102 Battalion REME from Scotland were awesome, and had the best outfits, for sure!  There were also groups from Finland and Russia who performed.  Some tunes were familiar (Rocky theme song and Amazing Grace) and others were more obscure, but it was free and seemed like a culturally progessive thing for us to do while we're here.