Fancy a big night out in Zürich?

Then you should know about something called a VIP Clubbing Pass, which gets you access to ten clubs across the city.

Gay clubs, straight clubs, classic clubs, they all seem to be covered. Most of them seem to be down the fashionable (and industrial) Züri-West area, so you should be able to get round a few of them, should the inclination grab you.

The pass is included in some special hotel packages, and costs CHF 104.

http://www.zuerich.com/en/page.cfm/clubbing

Pgoto: Flickr yago1

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

I do not buy CDs at concerts. In fact I don’t even buy CDs.

That all changed last Monday. Little Fish, a two-piece band from Oxford played at The Abart.

There are now two CDs in my flat and I bought them both on Monday night. One studio demo (“it’s rare mate”) and another with three tracks live. I didn’t care that the tracks were probably the same. If there was a possibility of a note, even a breath, being different, I wanted it. I needed it. I even checked iTunes when I got home to see if more is available; it’s not. Downloads on the MySpace page? Nope.

What was so special? It’s hard to distill; maybe the sheer violence that Nev (we are old friends now) puts into his drumming? It certainly made me wonder at the engineering prowess necessary to make a drum kit. How can it stand up to that punishment? How do those clips take that beating and yet remain adjustable? How long can those skins last? Why doesn’t the whole thing just tip up and fall over?

There were times when I watched Nev, times when I watched the drums or even just the pedals, but more often than not I watched JuJu. It doesn’t hurt that she’s young and cute of course, but the sheer anger in the face, the range of tones in the voice are mesmerizing. She’s one of those people that treats a guitar like a whole range of instruments; percussion, bass and guitar all in one. Able to extract delicate notes or violent screams interchangeably.

JuJu is funny too, with a range of put-downs that Frankie Boyle would be proud of.

As a girl/boy two-piece band, comparisons with Jack and Meg are obvious. But they also manage to combine elements of Patti Smith, The Sex Pistols, PJ Harvey and the B52s all rolled into one, but still managing to sound like, er, Little Fish. Catch them at a small venue while you can.

Photos courtesy Little Fish

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

The abart music club is one of Zurich’s finest music institutions.

It doesn’t look much, and to be fair, I’ve described it in the past as sleazy, but in reality it’s not at all.

It works both as a club and as a concert venue; holding around 600 people.

My favourite feature is the stage, tucked into a corner with a stage door that leads out into the car park. Which means when the band goes off, you get a refresshing blast of fresh air.

Music style tends to be UK/US Indie, plus there’s always a fair variety of Pulp Fiction parties, or Masters of Rock events.

If you’re more of a housey/garage person it may not be the place for you, but there are plenty of clubs in Zurich for that.

And because the place is so small there’s a great opportunity to get close to the band.

Open on Fridays and Saturdays until around five in the morning, it’s located in Manessestrasse. When bands are playing midweek it tends to close between midnight and one.

I’m not giving you too much information because I still want to be able to buy tickets…

Photo and further information: www.abart.ch

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

You wouldn’t think that a small village about 20km further down the lake would feel the need to compete with Montreux.

But Cully Jazz Festival seems to do that, although not at the same time of year.

For nine days from Friday April 4, there are daily concerts, either in the afternoon or early evening.

Seeing as I haven’t heard of any of the acts, it’s probably worth looking at cullyjazz.ch to get an idea of who’s playing.

The festival is non-profit making and has been enjoying success for 25 years now, so if you like Jazz, you can be sure of a good time.

Photo: Flickr Olivier Bruchez

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Montreux is renowned internationally for its Jazz Festival.

Less well-known is the Choral Festival which takes place at the Stravinsky Auditorium next week.

Frankly, I know little about it, but thought if this is the sort of thing you like, you might wish to know about it.

About 20 Choral groups from around Europe will be playing. The event runs from Tuesday, 25 March until Saturday, 29 March.

See www.choralfestival.ch for more details.

Photo: Flickr – oxmox

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

The magnificent concert house in Luzern (Lucerne) plays host to a classical mustifal festival next week. Starting on Saturday 8th March, continuing through to Sunday 16th.

As it’s a pre-Easter festival, there is a religous aspect to some of the music, Bach’s Passion of St John, and Michael Tippet’s A Child of our Time. 

There’s also the start of a series of a Beethoven cycle containing all the nine symphonies, the overtures, and the solo concertos, performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Bernard Haitink.

This series will conclude at next year’s festival.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons will also perform two concerts.

Phone: +41 (0)41 226 44 00
www.lucernefestival.ch

Photos: archangeli, myswitzerland

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Blimey, they’re still going on.

Only two weeks to Easter and the beginning of the 40 days beforehand is still being celebrated.

Mind you, seeing as you’re supposed to give up stuff in those 40 days I can’t help but admire the logic of having the party late.

Anyway, Avenches, 12km NW of Fribourg is up for a party this weekend, and as you’d expect, they’ll be holding it in the Roman Amphitheatre.

Let’s face it, when your town used to be the most important in Switzerland, in thise 4th Century days when it was known as Aventicum, you’d want to brag a bit.

It seems to be the classic mix; Guggemusik, outrageous costumes and staying up late drinking.

If you are in the area, don’t miss it.

Check www.avenches.ch for parade timings etc.

Photo myswitzerland

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Schiffbau means (literally) Ship building. So it’s a strange building to find in the middle of a city.

But no, they really used to build the boats that sail on lake Zürich down near Escher-Wyss Platz. The boats are fairly large too, with capacities of around 750 passengers.

But now the industrial area is steadily being converted into a trendy area with restaurants, clubs, cinemas and bars.

Schiffbau itself has two bars, a restaurant (LaSalle) and a Jazz Club (Moods) all of which I’ll be examining in detail in later posts.

The first port of call should be the bar at the top of the building, preferably at night. Overlooking the Freitag shop, the bar looks out over the rooftops, it’s not high but still impressive.

Then perhaps a meal in LaSalle, an elegant restaurant separated from the factory walls by a large glass cube in which the tables, chandeliers etc are situated.

Then on the third visit, why not try Moods for some relaxing, or modern jazz. www.moods.ch has up-to-date schedules.

Schiffbau is located in between Escher-Wyss Platz and Hardbrücke, and can be reached easily by Tram 13 or 4, Bus 33 and probably any number of S-Bahn trains.

Photos: Flickr 

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Staying on this week’s theme of music, there’s a major Blues festival held annually in Luzern.

It runs from the 2nd to 11th November and is based around the Grand Casino

It features a number of international acts; the idea being to allow residents of Switzerland (and passing visitors) to experience what the organizers refer to as "the true blues"

Whether that means you’ll come away knowing exactly how the performers woke up this morning I don’t know, but if you like your music heavy on guitar, then this could be the place for you.

As I’m not a blues expert, I can’t really comment on the line-up, checkout www.bluesfestival.ch for details. It’s in English!

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Next weekend sees another big party come to Zürich. Freestyle.ch is Europe’s biggest freestyle sports event. Covering snowboard, free-style skiing, skateboards and FMX (I assume that’s something to do with little bikes) the top stars from each sport will be competing for the top USD 100,000 prize.The action all takes place at Landiwiese, on the south side of the lake. I caught part of the action last year, by accident(!) and everything takes place in a relaxed party atmosphere, especially if the weather is behaving itself. Currently the forecast doesn’t look too bad, although we aren’t expecting blazing sunshine.Nightime sees a series of bands and DJs performing, with music ranging from lounge, through hip hop to hardcore techno. As I struggle to differentiate house from garage I won’t give any recommendations, I’m guessing that if you are into that kind of thing then you know what you’ll like. Check out www.freestyle.ch for more info as to what’s on where.Other attractions include film events, such as premier of Optimistic? a film related to climate change and the effects it will have on snowboarding.Tickets are available for each day seperately or as a three day pass.

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler