The 58th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival will take place outside the walls of the Congress Center from July 5 to 20, 2024. The festival, which will be more urban than ever, will reinvent itself in the heart of the city of Montreux and on an even larger area along the lakeside promenade. A lakeside stage will be erected on the market square, offering the audience not only a breathtaking view of the lake and the region, but also an exceptional concert experience.
An extended course on the Quai focuses on the lake and, with a wink, refers to the history of the Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF) as it reinvents itself for its 58th edition. The reason for this is the work planned on the congress center until 2025, which posed a major challenge for the event team. However, it also brought with it the opportunity to rethink the festival. The experience gained in recent years - including the external concert by Elton John at the Stade de la Saussaz in 2019 and the construction of a stage on the lake in 2021 - proved to be extremely valuable in making this project a success.
Many have been dreaming about it since 2021 and now it's happening: next summer, the Montreux Jazz Festival will set up its main stage below the market square on the lake. Thanks to the natural incline, the audience will have a breathtaking view of the lake, including the sunset. The second paid stage will be relocated to the casino. A symbolic location for the history of the festival, where the music of today and tomorrow will be presented. The configuration of the hall with standing and seating areas will be reminiscent of the atmosphere of earlier festival times in the Casino.
Montreux Jazz Festival 2021 © Emilien Itim
Extended route through the heritage of Montreux
In addition to the two paid stages in the east of the city - the Lake Stage and the Casino - the 58th Montreux Jazz Festival will include seven free stages. The course of the lakeside promenade will be shifted eastwards over a greater distance, starting at the level of the Fairmont le Montreux Palace and running from there to the Market Square. Numerous terraces, event areas, sun decks, bars and food stalls will complement the festival's offerings.
Anchoring the festival in the city
In order to realize this special edition of the festival, those responsible worked closely with the city authorities, the municipality and local stakeholders. As they responded positively to the plans from the outset, the expansion of the festival site could be looked forward to calmly and harmoniously integrated into the existing infrastructure on the quays.
We are aware that the new plans involve central and populated areas of the city. For this reason, special attention was paid to ensuring the comfort of local residents when planning the opening times. For example, the Lake Stage and Casino areas will no longer be actively used after the end of the concerts and after midnight. As for the other areas of the free stages, the opening hours of the outdoor venues will be managed in conjunction with the relevant authorities, taking care to distinguish between weekday and weekend opening hours.
July 5 to 20, 2024
