The Montreux Jazz festival kicks off today and continues until the 16th July. The festival name is bit of misnomer as there is much more than jazz available on the programe. From the blues of B.B King (a festival regular), to hip hop, soul, rock, pop, techno, etc, there is a huge variety of music on offer. Although tickets for many of the big names sold out when the line up was first released, there are still tickets available for other concerts and many concerts are completely free. See the free programme here
Latin Rythmn at festival
The festival also runs music events in different venues away from the main stages such as on the “Salsa boat or the Brazil Tropical boats”. These weekend boats cruise back and forth across the lake and past the stunning scenery of the Vaud vineyards with live bands playing on board. While they play, passengers dance, if you like rythmn of latin musc then these boats are not to be missed, the pace of dancing is frenetic on board too! Salsa boat dates here
Jazz trains
If you prefer your music a little bit more laid back and foot tapping, there are traditional jazz trains (again with live bands on board) at this festival. They weave their way through the hills from Montreux to Gstaad or Rochers-de-Nayes. Jazz train dates here
Seee Montreux Jazz festival for the full programme. The site in in English.
Note – if you intend driving to the festival allow extra time to park in the festival car parks and to take the free shuttle bus to the centre. If you intend going by train there is a 10% discount on the train fare for concert ticket holders. There are also special night trains for music lovers to return to Lausanne, Morges, Rolle, Gland, Nyon, Coppet, and Geneva after the concerts. See times here.
Usine a Gaz – Autumn line up
Closer to home, on Wednesday the Usine a Gaz (Nyon’s permanent music venue), revealed its musical and theatrical musical line up for their Autumn season. It kicks off on the 13th October with a “ciné/concert”, a film and music mix event. The film to be screened is “Duel” starring Dennis Weaver (shown in English with French subtitles). “Duel” was the first feature film directed by Steven Spielberg. The red Plymouth Valiant car in the film is used on the cover, and the posters of the Usine a Gaz’s 2011/2012 programme . Music at this ciné/ concert event will be performed by Antiquarks.
More on the Usine a Gaz’s autumn programme, including the new pricing for “abonnements” and reviews of music events theatrical events and Wednesday afternoon events for families and children, here on this site in the coming months.
