At the turn of the 1980s, the Rose d’Or lost some of its lustre. Created in 1961, the Montreux Television Festival was no longer attracting as many visitors, despite its key role in the local economy. To reverse the trend, the organisers took a daring gamble: between 1984 and 1986, they collaborated with Couleur 3 and the BBC to create a Pop/Rock Festival, modelled on British chart shows such as Top Of The Pops. On a television set, the biggest stars of the moment came to perform for the cameras. The format is dense – four to five days of concerts, between six and sixteen artists each night, up to forty in total – and the line-up spectacular: Queen, Genesis, Whitney Houston, The Cure, The Eurythmics and Simply Red. Although the event has been somewhat forgotten nowadays, it did a great deal to raise Montreux’s profile well beyond the shores of Lake Geneva.

presented by MJAF & Southbank Centre