Montreux Got The Full Midnight Sun Pop-Spectacle Treatment
The Montreux Jazz Festival takes over the shores of Lake Geneva for two weeks every summer, and this year pop princess Zara Larsson arrived ready to celebrate the institution’s 60th edition by treating the Auditorium Stravinski like her own very glamorous playground.
On Sunday, July 12, the Swedish performer followed opening artist Faouzia and unleashed a roughly 70-minute set built from Midnight Sun highlights, decade-tested pop hits, tight choreography and the kind of cheerful stage command that makes an enormous production still feel like Zara personally invited everybody into the room.
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Keep Zara’s Midnight Sun Burning Past Montreux
The full festival set is streaming, but Zara’s current pop universe does not end when the stage lights shut off. Visit her official home, then keep Midnight Sun and a little concert-ready hearing protection nearby.
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Zara Opened The Night By Chasing The Midnight Sun
The show began with Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” playing over the speakers before Larsson entered through an extended version of “Midnight Sun,” folding in traces of “Eurosummer” and immediately announcing that this would not be a quiet little walk through the catalog.
From there came an alternate take on “Can’t Tame Her,” a shortened cover of Tyla’s “She Did It Again,” the paired rush of “I Would Like” and “Sundown,” and the gleefully unsubtle “Hot & Sexy.” The early stretch moved like one continuous burst rather than a playlist stopping to ask permission between tracks.
Larsson has now been a global-pop fixture for more than a decade, but the Montreux set caught her at a particularly satisfying point: old enough in the business to command the production without disappearing inside it, yet still clearly thrilled by the ridiculous privilege of getting an entire room to sing the same chorus back at her.
The Hits Kept Arriving Before Anybody Could Recover
“Wow” received a guitar outro before “Ain’t My Fault” arrived with pieces of its early demo and Sexyy Red’s “Looking for the Hoes” worked into the arrangement. A dancers’ roll call then handed the spotlight to the people helping turn every song into a full-body event rather than decorative movement behind the singer.
The middle run continued through “Pretty Ugly,” “Stateside,” “Eurosummer,” “Never Forget You” and “Ruin My Life.” “Stateside” appeared in its Zara-assisted PinkPantheress form, while “Never Forget You” gave the band its own introduction and reminded everyone that Larsson’s catalog has been quietly collecting enormous singalongs for years.
Montreux Still Makes Room For Pop Inside The Jazz History
The name may say jazz, but Montreux has spent decades refusing genre confinement. Founded by Claude Nobs in 1967, the festival now draws nearly 250,000 spectators each year to the Lake Geneva shoreline and has built its reputation through renowned acoustics, intimate artist-audience connections and a history that comfortably holds Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Prince, David Bowie and Kendrick Lamar.
Zara did not arrive to imitate those legends or pretend her maximalist dance-pop needed a jazz disguise. She arrived as herself—sparkling, athletic, frequently funny and completely committed to the belief that a spectacular pop show belongs on a serious music stage because pop is serious music when somebody performs it this well.
The 2026 edition also marked a homecoming for Montreux’s indoor landmarks after two years of open-air festival configurations. The refurbished convention center returned the event to the acoustics of the Auditorium Stravinski and Montreux Jazz Lab, giving Larsson’s band, vocal arrangements and floor-shaking low end exactly the kind of room they deserved.
Lush Life Pulled A Fan Directly Into The Choreography
After an acoustic “Uncover” and the newer “Blue Moon,” Larsson reached the resurgent “Lush Life.” As she has throughout this run, she invited a fan onstage for the dance break, turning the song’s renewed life into an actual shared moment rather than simply celebrating another old hit returning to the algorithm.
“Symphony” followed before “Midnight Sun” returned as the closing number, now carrying elements of its live introduction and the Muni Long remix in the outro. Opening and ending with the same song gave the performance a proper sunrise-to-sunset shape—even if the sun in Zara’s current universe has absolutely no intention of going down.
Zara Larsson Takes Over The Auditorium Stravinski
The complete supplied gallery preserves all ten images in their original order, moving through Zara’s choreography, close-up performance moments, full-stage spectacle and the final stretch of the Montreux set.
Zara Larsson performing live at the Auditorium Stravinski during the 60th Montreux Jazz Festival. Video stills via the official Montreux Jazz Festival broadcast.
Press play on this massive headlining set with thee incomparable Zara. The festival history is grand, the room is legendary and the production is enormous—but the center of the whole thing remains one pop performer making seventy minutes move as if stopping were never considered.
Watch Zara Larsson’s Full Montreux Jazz Festival 2026 Set
The official festival broadcast captures Zara’s complete Auditorium Stravinski performance, from the extended “Midnight Sun” opening through the hits, fan-assisted “Lush Life” dance break and final return to the title track.
Source: Montreux Jazz Festival and official festival YouTube. Setlist details cross-checked with Setlist.fm.
