A Blues is a Blues is a Blues, twelve bars, three chords – music could hardly be simpler than that! Yet, as we know, the simplest things can often be the hardest; it’s the nuances that make all the difference to quality. No-one can teach Joe Bonamassa anything about that; he practically grew up on the blues, and his voice and guitar playing are shaped by the fathers of modern blues, the three Kings – Freddie, Albert and B.B. – and by the Brits Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. But the 49-year-old has long since found his own sound, having worked long and hard to achieve it. Because everything about Joe Bonamassa is on a massive scale: his guitar collection (reportedly over 250 instruments), the number of his releases (around 15 studio albums and just as many live albums, plus video albums, music videos, etc.) and, last but not least, the length of his career to date: His father, a guitar dealer, gave him his first child’s guitar, and at the age of twelve he stood on the stage alongside B. B. King. The rest, as they say, is history.

In 2010, Sam Cieri formed the Nicotine Dolls in New York: A band that blends pop, soul and rock with singer-songwriter music with the occasional touch of jazz. The band first gained recognition through social media. Cieri’s voice can sound hoarse, waver, almost crack, and then the next moment come through again with full force. His début album «An Attempt at Romantic» was released in 2025. Songs like «What Makes You Sad» reached millions through Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and streaming services. Nicotine Dolls are now anything but a fleeting internet sensation. Their concerts sell out quickly: They create music for doubts, setbacks, the trials and tribulations of love, and that moment when, despite everything, you pick yourself up again.

James Arthur writes about relationships, anxiety, loss of control, loneliness and life after a crisis: the stuff of life that rubs, pinches, scratches and occasionally causes pain. He won the UK version of «The X Factor» in 2012. His version of «Impossible» became a global hit. He was 24 years old and unprepared for overnight success, which led to a period of doubts and life complexity. Despite that, he never turned these difficult years into a self-pitying tale of heroism, but into good songs. In 2016 he made a second international breakthrough with «Say You Won’t Let Go». The song tells of the everyday aspects of a relationship, of growing old, of staying together and of promises that must be kept. His sixth studio album, «PISCES», came out in 2025. The songs explore memory, dreams, anxiety, love and a self-belief that doesn’t simply turn up on your doorstep one morning. Eleven years after his first concert at the Baloise Session, Arthur now returns to Basel as a headliner.

Max Herre and Joy Denalane work with the same excellent raw material: Soul. Herre integrated it into German rap, while Denalane gave it warmth, power and a unique language. Max Herre gained a name for himself in the 1990s with the band Freundeskreis. «Quadratur des Kreises» is one of the defining albums of German hip-hop. Herre combined rap with soul, reggae, political lyrics and a style of language that by no means can be considered a copy of US ghetto slang. His 2013 «MTV Unplugged» brought together rap, orchestra, soul, reggae and the singer-songwriter tradition. And with resounding success. Joy Denalane got to know Herre during the recording sessions for «Mit Dir». The song showcased her voice, as did her subsequent début album «Mamani». She sang in German about family, her roots, love, racism and selfassertion. The musical collaboration led to a relationship. They had two sons, separated and after a few years got back together again. On «Alles Liebe» they sing about attraction, arguments, everyday life, hurt and reconciliation. Their duets are even more credible because they steer clear of posing as a perfect couple.

Stephan Eicher was born in Münchenbuchsee, a suburb of Bern, in 1960. In the early 1980s, as part of the band Grauzone, he had a hit single with «Eisbär». The song became famous far beyond Switzerland, yet it was merely a prelude. Eicher soon turned to French songs. Philippe Djian has been writing lyrics for him since «My Place», and the collaboration culminated in 1991 with «Engelberg». «Déjeuner en paix» became a hit single in France, and the album spent five weeks at Number 1 on the Swiss charts. Yet Eicher never stuck to any one style. Chanson, folk, pop, electronic music, Alpine sounds and soft melancholy appear in his work, disappear again, and return in a different form. «Poussière d’Or», his 18th studio album, was released in 2025. On stage he changes arrangements, lets pieces grow, takes diversions, and responds to the room. He never just goes through the motions. Fortunately!

Erykah Badu uses soul to craft a form of music in which jazz, funk, hip-hop and electronic sounds are allowed to flow freely. In 1997 she released «Baduizm». The album reached Number 2 on the US Billboard 200 charts, won a Grammy as best R&B album, and made the then 25-year-old singer from Dallas an international star. Soon she was being called the high priestess of neo-soul. Badu lived up to the title. Her concerts don’t follow a rigid structure. She changes the tempo, extends songs, chats to the audience and steers her band in directions that no one had anticipated during the soundcheck. On «Mama’s Gun», «Worldwide Underground» and the two parts of «New Amerykah», she took this music a step further. Five Grammy awards and twenty nominations mark her career. Even more important is her influence on singers, producers, rappers and bands. A magical evening full of soul.

Calum Scott’s rendition of Robyn’s «Dancing On My Own» on Britain’s Got Talent catapulted him to instant fame. That voice, that musicality! In the UK, Calum Scott was one of the shooting stars of 2015. Released as a single, the cover version climbed to Number 2 on the UK charts, achieved platinum status and has been streamed more than 1.5 billion times on Spotify. In 2017 Scott confirmed his status with the hit «You Are The Reason», which was later released as a duet with Leona Lewis, achieved triple platinum status and broke the billion mark on YouTube. This was followed a year later with his successful début album «Only Human», and in 2025 he released his third album «Avenoir», a cinematic exploration of themes such as memory and love. Scott, who has also been a coach on The Voice of Germany talent show since 2025, has established himself as a specialist in understated, profound ballads and regularly shines in live collaborations with artists such as Ed Sheeran.

Natasha Bedingfield can be defined as the mistress of melodies that stays in your head. Her speciality is the «hook», as it’s known in pop music: an extremely catchy melody that sticks in your mind straight away. Her début album, «Unwritten», on which she worked as a songwriter and co-producer, already produced a Number 1 hit with «These Words». In 2006, the title track became one of the most-played songs on the radio in the US and the UK. Since then, the London-born singer-songwriter has collaborated with greats such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow and Bruno Mars, further honing her instinct for catchy, timeless music. People are still singing along to her songs years later.

A concert evening that celebrates the charisma of one of the greatest international hitmasters. Rick Astley follows this philosophy: Music should be groovy, generate positivity and touch as many people as possible. He shot to international stardom in 1987 with «Never Gonna Give You Up». The song, written by the London-based production trio Stock/Aitken/Waterman, reached Number 1 in 25 countries, spent five weeks at the top of the UK charts, and became the UK’s best-selling single of the year. To date, it has been streamed over one billion times on Spotify. With his powerful baritone voice, Astley lends the synth-pop universe of the Hit Factory a crucial sense of musical authenticity. After retiring from the music business, the man from the north of England experienced a massive comeback in the mid-2000s when he became an internet phenomenon following the emergence of the «Rickrolling» meme. Astley views this new-found popularity with a touch of selfdeprecating humour – and proves that his hit has lost none of its appeal.

He laid the foundations of modern pop, showing that a timeless sound is no accident, but rather craftsmanship of the highest order. For Nile Rodgers, the timeless ‘good-times groove’ is far more than a musical principle – it’s a way of life. Since the late 1970s, he has been producing songs that explicitly celebrate togetherness and joie de vivre: «We Are Family» and «He’s the Greatest Dancer» became anthems of togetherness far beyond the dance floor. As co-founder of CHIC alongside legendary bassist Bernard Edwards, Nile helped build a musical vocabulary that didn’t just top charts — it reshaped genres. Together they created “Le Freak,” the biggest-selling single in Atlantic Records history, and “Good Times,” which laid the very DNA for hip-hop itself, directly inspiring the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” — the biggest-selling 12-inch single in recorded music history. Nile Rodgers & CHIC remain one of the most electrifying live acts on the planet, delivering performances so joyful and euphoric that audiences everywhere are reminded of music’s extraordinary power to unite.