Founded by tourism boss and music promoter Claude Nobs and renowned for filmed performances by the likes of Nina Simone, Prince, David Bowie, Deep Purple, and Miles Davis, Montreux Jazz Festival has been delighting both attendees and music fans at home for 60 years.
This year’s anniversary festival in the Swiss lakeside town began with a set from British soul singer Raye, who honoured those who had performed before her, covering Prince’s Purple Rain, James Brown’s Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine and Simone’s Who Knows Where the Time Goes.
The 28-year-old also brought out another of the festival’s previous performers, Alicia Keys, to duet on the US singer’s If I Ain’t Got You and Raye’s Oscar Winning Tears, while producer Mark Ronson made an appearance too in the kind of special performance Montreux has become known for.
The pretty town, set between the steep hills of the Vaud Pre-Alps and the vast blue waters of Lake Geneva, in western Switzerland, has been welcoming some of the biggest artists for six decades.
Raye and Marc Ronson ((c) Marc Ducrest)
Other performances at this year’s event included a marathon two-hour-plus set from Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, a crowd-pleasing set from Sting, which drew heavily from his early work with The Police, and a performance from Deep Purple, who are arguably the band most closely connected to the festival.
The Ian Gillan-led band’s best-known song Smoke On The Water tells the story of Montreux Casino burning down in 1971 during a concert by Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention, the festival had been held at the venue since 1967 and Deep Purple had hoped to record their Machine Head album there before the blaze.
The 1972 album was eventually recorded at the town’s Grand Hotel using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, and when the casino was rebuilt, Mountain Studios was born inside it, recording the festival’s performances along with albums such as Bowie’s Lodger (1979), AC/DC’s Fly On The Wall (1985) and Iggy Pop’s Blah Blah Blah (1986).
Nick Cave
Mountain Studios was later owned by pop rock band Queen, who recorded six albums at the venue from 1978’s Jazz to 1995’s Made In Heaven, as well as some of the band members’ solo projects.
The festival also attracts many domestic visitors, many who do not have tickets for the main gigs, but travel across the country to experience a wide-ranging programme of free events including live performances, talks, screenings, and listening parties.
During its early days, the festival featured a much heavier focus on jazz, but by its third year in operation, Montreux was already showcasing artists from a much wider range of genres with the likes of progressive rockers Colosseum and blues rock band Ten Years After performing in 1969.
All that history, despite a population of less than 30,000, is what makes Montreux so special.
The festival has taken place in a purpose-built convention centre in recent years, and the sound quality is simply better than anything concert goers will have heard before, with every note and lyric perfectly audible, while Montreux Casino hosts Queen: The Studio Experience, a free look inside Mountain Studios.
The festival site which stretches for a section of the lakefront is packed with bookable upmarket bars and restaurants as well as food stands more recognisable to British festival goers. Many can be seen going from a pre-gig paddle, which is the perfect way to cool down during the high temperatures of the Swiss summer.
There are also Nobs’ chalets located high in the mountains, where artists including Freddie Mercury, Bowie and The Rolling Stones all visited the late festival founder, bringing gifts for him which can still be viewed on tours today.
While the chalets can only be visited on pre-booked tours, they are certainly worthwhile, with some fascinating pieces of music memorabilia on display as well as a chance to see where the masters for all of the concert recordings are stored.
There are concert films of pretty much every Montreux performance, with Nobs using them as a way to both attract artists to perform at the festival and as a way to fund it.
At the conclusion of our tour we were taken to a cinema in the loft of one of the chalets, which had been specially designed to replicate the sound of live concerts in the main hall using microphones, and shown classic performances, with the set-up getting viewers as close to seeing Prince live as anyone is in 2026.
I stayed at The Freddie Mercury Hotel, which would have enhanced the visit for fans of Queen, with many pictures of the late singer on display.
Away from the music, the backdrop of Montreux is stunning; the Lake Geneva water is pure blue, framed by a halo of mountains, a world away from the muddy bogs of Glastonbury or Reading Festival.
The town also hosts Chillon Castle, one of the most complete Medieval castles in the world, allowing for hours of exploring and picturesque lake views from its windows.
In the nearby town of Vevey there is one of the most impressive museums in Europe, Chaplin’s World, built to honour the early British Hollywood legend, Charlie Chaplin, who lived in the town from 1952 until his death in 1977, having been forced out of the US following accusations of being a communist.
Chaplin’s World begins with audiences viewing a highlights reel of Chaplin’s career from 1921’s The Kid to 1940’s The Great Dictator, before the screen lifts up to reveal a breath-taking reconstruction of the Victorian London the actor grew up in.
The exhibition that follows takes visitors into the film sets themselves, with wax works of Chaplin and his castmates, giving an insight into how the film industry works during its formulative years.
Once the exhibition has been explored, visitors can learn about Chaplin’s later life by visiting his former home, located in the middle of a luscious green park.
Montreux is also located close to the city of Lausanne, which is notable as the home of the International Olympic Committee, with an Olympic Museum offering insight into the history of one of the world’s best-known sporting events.
Just be prepared for the prices though, a standard McDonald’s meal is the equivalent of £20, and this is about the cheapest meal visitors will get, however festival food is no more expensive than British festivals.
But if you can save up enough to afford the prices, with tickets also slightly more expensive than your average large-scale gig in the UK, the Montreux Jazz Festival – with excellent quality of sound – is one of the best live-music experiences that fans could have.
How to book:
The 61st Montreux Jazz Festival will take place from July 2 to 17, 2027. Tickets for the festival can be purchased from the festival’s official website, montreuxjazzfestival.com.