Fri-Son 1983–2013

Swiss clubbing

To many, Fri-Son is one of the best and most innovative Swiss music venues. The club was born in remote and traditionally conservative Fribourg in 1983, solely as a result of the energy of a few music enthusiasts. Originally a pocket-sized and notoriously shabby boutique for avant-garde punk and jazz music, it has quickly grown into a large, internationally-renowned and well respected venue for any brand of innovative music, from rock, electronic, metal through hip-hop. Over the years it has hosted groundbreaking, upcoming or established artists such as The Gun Club, Nirvana, Nico, The Beastie Boys, Cat Power, Phoenix, and Grizzly Bear.

This book gives an overview over the dazzling and mesmerizing creative output from the first 30 years in the life of Fri-Son. The essence of three decades of musical history and evolution of independent music as reflected in Fri-Son’s gigantic archive is assembled in a well-researched essay written by Matthieu Chavaz and Daniel Prélaz (et al.). Numerous testimonies from insiders and artists, a large portfolio of original photographs and many posters, offer the reader a lively, faithful, and intimate immersion into some of the seminal club’s most startling nights.