Rain and Winehouse death affect Paléo

Paléo, Switzerland’s biggest open-air music festival in Nyon, has closed with organisers hailing the atmosphere despite the constant downpours.

But remembered with sadness was the British singer Amy Winehouse, found dead aged 27 in London on Saturday, who had cancelled her original plans to perform at the festival.

In all, 230,000 people attended the six-day event, whose line-up included James Blunt, Mika, The Chemical Brothers, the Strokes and Robert Plant.

Rain contingency plans were put in place with 62.1 millimetres of rain recorded in the eight days around the festival. The weather had an impact on turnover, which was down 12 per cent this year, it was announced on Sunday.

The festival had earlier said that it was “greatly saddened” to learn of Winehouse’s death. “In a singular twist of fate, this announcement was made a few hours before her slot on the Main Stage of the Festival, a performance that was cancelled in June,” said a statement on Saturday. Mika, who had replaced Winehouse, dedicated his concert to her, organisers said.

The statement added that music had lost a tremendous voice in Winehouse and offered its sympathy to those close to “this very talented artist”.