Jaz is a beach in the Budva Municipality

Budva

Budva is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has around 15,000 inhabitants, and it is the centre of municipality...

 in Montenegro

Montenegro

Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

. It is located 2.5 km west of Budva city. It consists of two parts, one 850 m long and the other, formerly a nudist beach, 450 m long. It is a pebble beach, with a campground along the greater part of the beach (capacity 2,000 lots).

While it is a popular beach for sunbathing and camping, and is one of the longer beaches in Montenegro, it has gained international prominence as a host of numerous concerts and happenings in recent years.

The vast hinterlands of the Jaz beach are considered among the greatest potentials for tourism development on the Montenegrin coast, as there are few undeveloped areas left on the coast besides Jaz (notably Buljarica

Buljarica

Buljarica is a beach in the Budva Municipality of western Montenegro. It is about from Petrovac in the direction of Bar, The beach is long.-Geography:Buljarica has development potential to rival that of famed Velika Plaža of the south Montenegrin coast...

, Velika Plaža

Velika Plaža

Velika Plaža is a beach in Ulcinj Municipality, Montenegro. It stretches from Port Milena in Ulcinj to Bojana River, which separates it from Ada Bojana.-Overview:...

 and Ada Bojana

Ada Bojana

Ada Bojana is an island in the Ulcinj Municipality in Montenegro.The name Ada means island in Turkish language.The island is created by river delta of Bojana River. The legend says it was formed by gathering river sand around a ship sunk at the mouth of Bojana river, but it is more likely to be a...

).

Jaz Beach as a concert venue 2007-2008

With the announcement that The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

 will be playing the beach in July 2007, Jaz Beach started to figure as concert venue for global acts.

The annual summer events were seen as an attempt to boost Montenegrin international image, as well as to promote the country as a tourist destination. In largest part they've been financed by Svetozar Marović

Svetozar Marovic

Svetozar Marović ; born March 31, 1955) is a lawyer and a Montenegrin politician. He was the only president of Serbia and Montenegro...

, influential Montenegrin politician, and a native of Budva

Budva

Budva is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has around 15,000 inhabitants, and it is the centre of municipality...

.

The Rolling Stones played a show on July 9, 2007, as a part of their A Bigger Bang Tour. For the performance, a large field in the beach hinterland was leveled, fenced, and made accessible by refurbishing and extending the road to the venue. The show was attended by some 25,000 people.

The next notable event on the beach was the 3-day Live Fest held in August 2008 that consisted of: Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz

Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...

 and Armand Van Helden

Armand Van Helden

Armand Van Helden is a record producer, DJ and remixer whose biggest commercial successes came from his remixes of the 1996 Tori Amos song "Professional Widow" , which reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in January 1997, and his own track "U Don't Know Me ", which went to number 1...

 on August 5, Dino Merlin

Dino Merlin

Edin Dervišhalidović , stage name Dino Merlin, , is a prominent Bosnian singer-songwriter and musician. He is a popular singer/songwriter in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is also popular in the other countries of the former Yugoslavia such as Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia and...

 and DJ Set Retro Groove '70 on August 6, and finally Goran Bregović

Goran Bregovic

Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...

 together with Zdravko Čolić

Zdravko Colic

Zdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...

 on August 7.

Later that summer Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

 performed one of her Sticky & Sweet Tour

Sticky & Sweet Tour

The Sticky & Sweet Tour was the eighth worldwide concert tour by American singer Madonna to promote her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy. It began in August 2008 and was Madonna's first tour from her new recording and business deal with Live Nation. The tour was announced in February 2008, with...

 concerts at the venue on September 25 with 50,000 in attendance. The pre and after parties consisted of performances by various other popular musicians, such as Van Gogh

Van Gogh (band)

Van Gogh is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. The band was formed in 1986, and released their debut alternative rock-oriented self-titled album the same year...

, Garik Sukachev, David Morales

David Morales

David Morales is an internationally acclaimed Grammy-winning house music DJ and producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Morales is one of the most prolific remixers of all time, transforming many pop music songs into club-friendly dance tracks...

, Junior Jack

Junior Jack

Junior Jack is an Italian-Belgian house music producer and DJ.-Biography:...

 and DJ Ura.

Live Music Festival 2009 Controversy

Despite the fact that the producers of popular Live Music Festival have allegedly negotiated with big names from entertainment industry such as Tina Turner

Tina Turner

Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

, Britney Spears

Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

 and Zucchero

Zucchero

Adelmo Fornaciari, Commander , more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero /ˈtsukkero/, is an Italian rock singer. His music is largely inspired by gospel, blues and rock music, and alternates between ballads and more rhythmic boogie-like pieces.Zucchero is the...

, Raka Marić has confirmed that none of those singers will attend it this year. For popular daily newspaper Vijesti

Vijesti

Vijesti is a Montenegrin daily newspaper.The paper is published and managed by an entity called Daily Press d.o.o. - a limited liability company based in Podgorica...

, he has said: "Due to 2009 global financial crisis, there will be no attendance of some global superstar on this year's Live Music Festival." Although Tina Turner has finished her worldwide tour that marked her 50th year in the business and is now free for new concerts, Marić has said that "she gave up touring and will never tour again" which is, of course, not actually the truth. He has also said that "Britney Spears is finishing her European leg in July 26" so they couldn't "get her to come".

Although it has been officially confirmed that 2009 guests will be Vlado Georgijev, Plavi Orkestar

Plavi orkestar

Plavi orkestar is one of the most popular bands from former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983.The band has remained popular to the present day with 8 albums and more than 3500 concerts worldwide...

, Riblja Čorba

Riblja Corba

Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...

and two famous DJs, second Live Music Festival has never been held.