Live music in July & August

Free and outdoors – these two things come together particularly well every Wednesday at the Barfussbar in Zurich’s Frauenbadi. That’s when ‘Live am Mittwuch’ features artists from the Zurich region and beyond, who perform for the barefoot crowd. On this particular evening, for example, the Swiss-Palestinian drummer Ramzi Hammad, who blends modern jazz with Arabic and Latin influences and, having been nominated for the ZKB Jazz Prize and accepted into the Montreux Jazz Artist Foundation, is well on his way to a breakthrough.

1 July | Barfussbar, Zurich

Beirut is back. Or rather, it never went away. Zach Condon’s music project, which won hearts in the 2000s with its melancholic, nostalgic indie sound featuring brass and ukulele, has continued to evolve ever since. Last year’s album *A Study of Losses* was commissioned for a Swedish circus production and is thus the first concept album by an artist whose entire body of work can be understood as a concept.

10 July | X-Tra, Zurich

Music by the lake – it’s hard to go wrong. The Openair Wollishofen offers free music by the lake and invites you to discover a few local gems. Take the shoegaze band Ecyce, for example, who have perfectly mastered the elegiac guitar strumming of the 90s. Or the psychedelic freaks from Temple Solaire, who counter that with the hazy guitars of the 60s. The Krautrockers Konomono, meanwhile, celebrate a wild mix of languages set to driving beats.

10 & 11 July | GZ Wollishofen, Zurich

‘Old but Gold’ is the theme of this festival, and even if the billing as an ‘over-30s’ event is a bit cringey, the brilliant line-up more than makes up for it: Busta Rhymes, De la Soul, KRS-One and The Pharcyde at a single festival is something you’ve probably not seen since the early 2000s.

1 August, The Valley, Kemptthal

The Winterthur Music Festival is, of course, a sure-fire guarantee of great musical moments amidst the hustle and bustle of the Old Town. This year, for example, 7 August promises to be a standout with the charming local Winti post-punk act Bahnhof Chancenthal and the brilliant electro-noise band Eckhart. The 9th August features an all-female line-up and has a few highlights in store: Dandara Modesto and Ana Frango Elétrico bring modern Brazilian vibes to the stage, To Athena captivates with Swiss German chamber pop, and Hannah Cohen with her super-smooth indie pop. And then there’s 13 August, featuring Grenzkontrolle, Verbrennung 3. Grades and GANS – in other words, packed with new wave and snotty rock from Germany, Zurich and around the world. Ah.

from 5 August | Winterthur

As every year, the alternative programme to the Street Parade will kick off in 2026 at the Rote Fabrik under the name Lethargy. And as every year, the organisers have once again unearthed some gems from the depths of the electronic (semi-)underground. For example, The Sabres of Paradise will be performing – a group from the early days of British warehouse raves, which in the early nineties consisted of legendary producer Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, and which disbanded after just a few years. In a tragic twist of fate, Kooner and Burns met again for the first time in a long while at Weatherall’s funeral in 2020 and have now been performing on stage again for a year in memory of their old musical colleague. What else is worth checking out? You certainly can’t go wrong with the Catalan dark industrial duo Dame Area, the Swiss-Kenyan electro-trap act Shmu & Ziller Bas, and the freak-prog group HENGE.

7–9 August | Rote Fabrik, Zurich

For the past few years, Baxter Dury has been a force to be reckoned with. The dandy with the Cockney accent has blossomed into an indispensable figure on the European indie scene, collaborating with countless musicians from that very scene and constantly reinventing himself. On his new album *Allbarone*, for example, he delivers driving electroclash.

25 August | Salzhaus, Winterthur

After four and a half years (how time flies...), I’m stepping down as the writer of the live music tips. It’s been a real pleasure recommending music to you all here. So long: see you in front of the stage!