Switzerland sets the standard much like Crocodile Dundee redefined the knife: suddenly, everything back home feels a little underwhelming. Its mountains are what ours dream they might one day become, its chocolate keeps Darrell Lea awake at night — and when it comes to music, the Montreux Jazz Festival effortlessly achieves what our festivals aspire to: elegance, eclecticism, and an ecstasy that needs no chemical embellishment.
For generations musicians have made the pilgrimage to Montreux, the lakeside town where the Alps bend down to listen, often to deliver the show of their lives. The bar was set by the likes of Nina Simone and Miles Davis — and raised by Prince, The Rolling Stones, and Deep Purple, whose “Smoke on the Water” immortalised the night Frank Zappa’s lakeside show literally went up in flames. It is probably too soon to say whether any of this year’s sets will join the ranks of Montreux legends but a few already feel like contenders: Diana Ross incandescent in orange chiffon and full jukebox hit mode; Grace Jones giving it full sculptural diva; and Carlos Santana‘s nonchalant gum-chewing performance at sunset in both time of day and, perhaps, career with a flotilla of eavesdroppers. Moments at least brushed by the hand of history.
Image: Diana Ross Credit: ©MJF Marc Ducrest
While the festival is revered by musicians and musos alike — its archive of recordings is inscribed on UNESCO’s world heritage register — it has long outgrown the ‘jazz’ label of its name. So it was that RÜFÜS DU SOL headlined the Lake Stage with a cinematic, synth-soaked set that shimmered with the water and Royel Otis radiated such laid-back cool, the Swiss Riviera momentarily lost its smugness, both acts allowing Australians to hold our heads high despite the puniness of our mountains.
For my money, I reckon Pulp’s show will join the ranks of the myriad “Live in Montreux” albums that reflect the cultural importance of this festival. Fresh from wowing a 200,000-strong audience at Glastonbury, Jarvis Cocker crowned his Prat Summer with 5,000 fans in front of him, Lake Geneva and its mountains behind. That intimacy is part of what keeps Montreux high on performers’ bucket lists — and Cocker made the most of it. He charmed the crowd with French bon mots, unveiled new material that stood confidently alongside his back catalogue, and returned to the generation-defining hits with a joy that was unmistakably shared — between band and audience alike. Throw in his workshop on Outsider Art, and sightings of him in full civilian mode soaking in the festival’s delights and it was almost trop Montreux.
Image: RÜFÜS DU SOL Credit: ©MJF Morgan Droux
Much of what makes Montreux unique isn’t on the main stages: the vast majority of performances are free to attend, no ticket or wristband required; the police presence is almost invisible — no doubt facilitated by a responsible European approach to alcohol; audiophiles gather in the vinyl listening room to dissect rare pressings; cinephiles catch music documentaries in the pop-up cinema; revellers spill out of free DJ sets into the night. And then there are the legendary jam sessions that stretch past dawn — this year drawing in the likes of RAYE and members of Pulp’s touring band and Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso fresh from their main stage shows.
Those jams reflect festival founder Claude Nobs’ taste for artistic collaboration. It’s Nobs’ entreaties over fondue that led to David Bowie dropping in on Freddie Mercury in Montreux, and “Under Pressure” was born from the next 12 feverish hours of spontaneous writing and recording — a collaboration that is now festival legend. Nob’s successor Mathieu Jaton continues that tradition, playfully programming Jamie xx before FKA twigs on the Lake Stage, his London club pulse and her stylised theatricality allowing both artists to transcend their usual boundaries. She especially rose to the occasion, adapting her tour show to the confines – and possibilities – of the smaller stage and wider canvas. By the time set closer “Cellophane” came round, it was not just FKA twigs but also many in the audience who were in tears.
Image: FKA twigs Credit: ©MJF Chiara Di Caprio
It is those moments which give Montreux its magic — not just in the pairings it engineers, but in the moments it allows to unfold. Hermanos Gutiérrez playing desert-inflected “Low Sun” just as the sun set behind the hills; Benson Boone using his acrobatics to great effect, stage-diving not into the mosh pit but into the lake; Palestinian rapper Saint Levant sharing his story on a stage later graced by Israeli jazz great Avishai Cohen — all reflect something uniquely Montreux.
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Next year’s 60th edition of the festival, returning to the legendary stages of the Convention Centre, is rumoured to be one for the ages. If the whispers are even half true, it promises to be replete with the kind of moments that become Montreux myth.
The 60th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival will be held July 3rd-18th 2026. More information is available here.
