| Casino Barrière de Montreux | |
|---|---|
| Location | Montreux, Switzerland |
| Opening date | 1881 |
| Permanent shows | Montreux Jazz Festival |
| Owner | Groupe Lucien Barrière |
| Renovated in | 1971 to 1975 (fully rebuilt) |
| Website | Casino Barrière de Montreux site |
Montreux Casino(Casino Barrière de Montreux) is a casino located in Montreux, Switzerland, on the shoreline of Lake Geneva. It has served as the venue for the Montreux Jazz Festival and was rebuilt following a 1971 fire memorialized in the Deep Purple song 'Smoke on the Water'. It is a property of Groupe Lucien Barrière.
- 1History
- May 25, 2015 Cove of Lake Geneva: casino vacation - See 1,466 traveler reviews, 203 candid photos, and great deals for Cove of Lake Geneva at TripAdvisor.
- Casinos and More in Lake Geneva. If you're coming to Lake Geneva for some gaming, you can play your hand at Montreux Casino, located 18.4 mi (29.6 km) away, though it's not the only place to visit while you're in town. Tourists speak highly of the beautiful lakeside setting and local cuisine. You might want to visit top attractions like Evian.
History[edit]
There are more than 15,000 lakes in Wisconsin, so it's easy to see why spending time out on the water is popular with both locals and tourists. Many Wisconsin vacations are centered around enjoying one or more of the state's lakes, and there are bunch of great lodging options near some of the more highly-visited bodies of water.
Montreux Casino was built in 1881 and had modifications made to it in 1903. Throughout the twentieth century, the site played host to many great symphony orchestras and well-known conductors. By the late 1960s, jazz, blues and rock artists began to perform there.
Casinos Near Geneva New York
In 1967 the Casino became the venue for the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was the brainchild of music promoterClaude Nobs. The festival was held there annually and lasted for three days. The highlights of this era were Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Bill Evans, Nina Simone, Jan Garbarek, and Ella Fitzgerald. Originally featuring almost exclusively jazz artists, in the 1970s the festival began broadening its scope, including blues, soul, and rock artists. Some notable rock acts which performed at Montreux Casino in these years include Led Zeppelin (although they never performed at the festival itself), Pink Floyd and Deep Purple.
1971 fire[edit]
On December 4, 1971, Montreux Casino burned down during a concert by The Mothers of Invention after a fan had set the venue on fire with a flare gun.[1][2] A recording of the outbreak and fire announcement can be found on a Frank Zappa Bootleg album titled Swiss Cheese/Fire![3]
The song 'Smoke on the Water' by English rock group Deep Purple is about the incident:
| “ | We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline / To make records with a mobile - We didn't have much time / Frank Zappa & the Mothers were at the best place around / But some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground / Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky... | ” |
The Casino was subsequently rebuilt, and during the interim the Montreux Jazz Festival was held in other auditoriums in Montreux, until it could return to the newly re-opened Casino in 1975. The Festival continued to be hosted there until 1993, when it moved to a larger Montreux Convention Centre located approximately one kilometre from the Casino. From 1995 through 2006, the Festival occupied both the Convention Centre and the Casino. Beginning with the 41st Festival in 2007, nightly performances of headliners were again moved mainly to the Convention Centre, although the Casino still hosts the odd one-off show.
References[edit]
- ^Miles, Barry (2005) Zappa: A Biography. Grove Atlantic Press, ISBN978-0-8021-4215-3
- ^ 'Bang Your Head' by David Konow, page 26, ISBN0-609-80732-3
- ^Zappa, Frank (1992) [recorded December 4, 1971]. Swiss Cheese / Fire Zappa Records, ASIN B001CBKMVI
External links[edit]
Coordinates: 46°25′46″N6°54′42″E / 46.4295°N 6.9117°E