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This year I’ll be going to my first Montreux Jazz Festival – that venerable institution, now in its 45th year, held over 16 days in the most beautiful festival location in Switzerland. I’ve been meaning to go for years but never managed it, so this year I’ll be popping my Montreux Jazz cherry in order to finally see the band that have proven so elusive to me in the last few years – Arcade Fire.

Now that the free programme has been released (and wow, the free programme is almost better than the paid programme!), here are my picks for this year’s festival:

Friday 1st July: Crocodiles + Funeral Party + Indiependance

Saturday 2nd July: Crystal Fighters + Wu Lyf

Monday 4th July: Anna Calvi + Make It Pink

Tuesday 5th July: The Vaccines, Laura Marling

Saturday 9th July: Figurines + Vinnie Who + Reptiles & Retard

Sunday 10th July: Chapel Club + Cold War Kids,  Arcade Fire (sold out!)

Monday 11th July: Friendly Fires + Kaspar Bjørke

Tuesday 12th July: Cascadeur + Agnes Obel

Wednesday 13th July: Lamb + Mogwai

There’s some interesting stuff there, eh? Looks like there might be a tweet-up of sorts happening at the Arcade Fire gig – now that would be fun. So stay tuned for tweets, reports and other tidbits from the front row – I’ll be queuing with the best of them, elbows sharpened and at the ready.

The 45th Montreux Jazz Festival runs from 1-16 July 2011.

See the full programme here, and buy tickets here.