Montreux Jazz Festival chief talks 2024 revamp
Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF) organiser Mathieu Jaton has previewed this year’s reimagined 58th edition in an interview with IQ.
The Swiss event, which typically draws 250,000 people over 16 days, kicks off today with performances from Jon Batiste and Henry Moodie and runs until 20 July. More than 30 shows will be livestreamed for free on the festival’s YouTube channel.
MJF has undergone a number of temporary changes for 2024 due to construction work on the Montreux Music and Convention Centre Congress Centre (2m2c), home to the 4,000-capacity Stravinski Auditorium, its main venue.
As a result, this year’s festival features a new layout with a new 5,000-cap main stage erected on top of Lake Geneva, and a return to the historic Casino, which will have a capacity of 1,300 and a half-seated, half-standing configuration. The Casino burnt down in the ’70s and inspired Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple.
“It’s a totally different festival this year,” Jaton tells IQ. “We decided to reinvent everything and create something exceptional for this 2024 edition. The main difference is the festival is much larger in terms of distance, because it was concentrated around the Congress Centre before, so the spirit will be a little bit different.
“It will have the same overall capacity, although the stage on the lake is much bigger than Stravinski, with space for [an additional 1,000 people]. We will be out of the hall for two years, but it will be ready for ’26 for the 60th anniversary of Montreux.”
“Our signature right now is to have very powerful double bills”
Each night will offer a carefully curated double bill including Editors & Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey & The National, Jessie Ware & Paolo Nutini, Róisín Murphy & Kraftwerk, Air & Massive Attack, Rag’N’Bone Man & Sting, Raye & Janelle Monáe and Soft Cell & Duran Duran.
“Our signature right now is to have very powerful double bills,” explains Jaton. “It’s not like an opening act and main act, it’s really a complementary double bill, so that’s exactly where we’re going. When we had the confirmation of Janelle, the goal was to make something not only good, but something exceptional that makes Montreux unique.
“With the big open air festivals, you have 10 to 15 bands playing the same night, and you buy tickets because you know you will see something fun. In Montreux, every single person is buying a ticket for a specific night, so it should be unique and exceptional. Putting two acts on with very big production, like Air and Massive Attack, for example, is not easy, but it’s amazing to have both together on the lineup on the same night.
“We are very proud of that stage this year, because it looks totally different from all the other festivals, and that’s what we’re trying to do. The audience loves the storytelling and know they will have an experience that is different from anywhere else.”
Deep Purple will also return as part of this year’s lineup alongside Alice Cooper for what will be the band’s 10th performance at Montreux.
“Of course, their story is very deep with us, and they want to show a little movie at the beginning of their performance to celebrate,” says Jaton, who recently the MJF brand’s international expansion. “Smoke on the Water is really the hymn of Montreux so I could not have dreamed of anything better than having Deep Purple playing the stage on the lake. Even though the rest of the lineup is crazy, one of the first sold out shows was Deep Purple so I’m very happy.”
“Jack White said, ‘Montreux is not like Lollapalooza or Bonnaroo: the music is first, the party is secondary.’ That is a beautiful definition”
The Swiss institution was the subject of a documentary mini-series, They All Came Out To Montreux, which premiered last year and detailed the history of the event and its celebrated founder Claude Nobs, who died in January 2013 following a skiing accident.
“Claude was not a businessman, he was really a music lover,” says Jaton. “So he was not doing a festival to make money, but because he loved music. He loved the musicians and wanted to have them close to them. They interviewed Jack White [for the documentary] and he said that when his children asked him what Montreux is about, he told them, ‘It’s not like Lollapalooza or Bonnaroo: the music is first, the party is secondary.’ And that is a beautiful definition.
“We are not a for-profit company. I don’t have shareholders, so I don’t have pressure for there to be a return on investment at the end of the festival. The only thing I have to do is take the festival into the future – and we’re always thinking of the artistic projects first, before thinking of the budget.”
MJF also includes a free programme, which represents more than 80% of its total offering and will feature more than 500 activities on 15 stages, largely dedicated to emerging artists. Highlight include Kenya Grace, Good Neighbours, Sid Sriram, Marcel Dettman, Jazzbois, Venna, Dargz, Elmiene and Black Coffee.
The prospect of MJF’s landmark 60th edition in two years’ time is also rapidly coming closer into view.
“We’ve started thinking about it,” reveals Jaton. “It’s quite difficult to book an artist for 2026 right now, but we have some ideas and discussions about doing something very special with artists who have become friends of Montreux – the old but mostly the new guys that played Montreux when they were up and coming – because our Spotlight project and Artists Foundation are very important to our programme. So we’re going to work on that, and hopefully some of the big guys will come to the 60th anniversary.”
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Montreux Jazz Festival boss on Claude Nobs’ legacy
Montreux Jazz Festival CEO Mathieu Jaton has spoken to IQ about the legacy of the event’s celebrated founder Claude Nobs, 10 years on from his passing.
The 57th festival will be held from 30 June to 15 July, with headliners including Bob Dylan, Lionel Richie, Lil Nas X, Sam Smith, Iggy Pop, Norah Jones, Seal, Joe Bonamassa and Nile Rodgers.
Jaton says ticket sales are pacing ahead of last year’s event, which attracted an estimated 250,000 fans to become MJF’s most-well attended edition yet.
“We’re very confident and very proud of the lineup, and sales are going great,” he tells IQ. “We had record sales for last year and tickets are moving faster than last year, which is a very good sign. A lot of the concerts are already sold out, which is cool, so I’m a happy man.”
Montreux Jazz Festival won the top festival award (Ligger’s Favourite Festival) at the 2023 Arthur Awards earlier this year, and the Swiss institution is the subject of a new documentary mini-series, They All Came Out To Montreux. The three-part presentation, which premieres in the UK tonight (Friday 16 June) at 10.15pm BST on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer, details the history of the event and Nobs, who died in January 2013 following a skiing accident.
“You see the passion, love and authenticity of Claude’s relationships with artists very clearly”
“This year is the 10th anniversary of Claude passing, so it is a very good timing that this documentary will be released finally internationally on the BBC,” says Jaton.
They All Came Out To Montreux features more than 40 testimonies, 30 performances and a variety of previously unseen images, is directed by British filmmaker Oliver Murray, executive produced by Quincy Jones and produced by BMG and Beyond TNC. MJF announced a multi-faceted global partnership with BMG in 2021.
The series has been made in association with MJF’s media company Montreux Media Ventures (MMV), which was launched in 2019 to develop year-round content and events for corporate clients, labels and brands.
“The most emotional thing for me is that you see the passion, love and authenticity of Claude’s relationships with artists very clearly in the documentary,” says Jaton. “That’s what makes Montreux completely different because Claude was not a businessman; he was not a regular promoter; he was an artist lover on a human level.
“The most beautiful heritage Claude gave us except for the festival, the brand and all the things he created, of course, is the love of everybody around him. When he passed away 10 years ago, the first call I got was from Quincy [Jones] and he said, ‘Claude was my brother, Claude was one of the people on earth that I loved so much. Now, we have to continue his patrimony for the future and I will be with you whenever you want.’
“Montreux is always trying to keep to that spirit of Claude, which is the heart before the business”
“Most of those artists could have said, ‘Okay, Claude passed away and that’s sad, and now I’m doing something else.’ But no, the loyalty of those people is still there and that’s amazing, and that’s exactly what this documentary shows – all those relationships, which are key in the DNA of Montreux, are real and authentic.”
Jaton, who began working for the festival in 1999, discloses a conversation he had with his mentor shortly before Nobs’ death at the age of 76.
“Two months before Claude passed away, he told me something very important,” remembers Jaton. “It’s bizarre when you think back because he passed away by accident, but he said to me, ‘You know why I chose you? I know that you understand the DNA and spirit of the festival, and you will transform it into the future.’ And that’s exactly what we’re doing – not looking to the past, but only looking to the future – transforming the festival every year, but keeping that DNA and the legacy of Claude.
“The legacy of Claude is not only the big names, it’s really a mindset: a mindset of hospitality; a mindset of passion, of love. We know the music business now is just that – a business – but Montreux is always trying to keep to that spirit of Claude, which is the heart before the business.”
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