Brussels’ location
at the heart of Europe encourages top artists and budding stars
to tour here but the city has a thriving homegrown scene of its
own. Jazz has been strong since the 1920s and there
is year-round live jazz in a cluster of venues, climaxing in the
annual Brussels Jazz Festival. The club scene is
relatively new, drawing the crowds after much lingering in the city’s
many bars and Irish pubs that overflow mainly with expatriates.
The legal drinking age in Belgium is 16 years and
the price of a beer is approximately €2.
Aside from the tacky discos for tourists, there is the big-name-DJ-drawing
The Fuse. The best send out their sounds into the
night, around Place de St-Géry, Manneken-Pis and in the Marolles
district. The Clubs open at 2300 hrs, heat up at midnight and survive
until about 0600 hrs. Being foreign and dressed in tune with the
club’s image helps the admission process along considerably,
entrance is sometimes free but will more likely will cost around
€7.
The Fnac, in the City 2 complex
on Rue Neuve, is the best place for club tickets, although the Tourist
Office on Grand-Place may be able to assist. Perhaps the highlight
of the clubbing year is the Klinkende Munt outdoor
music festival, held every July in Brussels at the Place de la Monnaie,
Petit-Chateau and the Beursschouwburg.
Listings and information on nightlife events in Brussels can be
found online (website: www.noctis.com).
Tels Quels magazine (in French) has the most comprehensive
gay nightlife listings.
Bars
Belgium is famous for its superb selection of beers, not least those
created by Trappist monks at various monasteries throughout the
country. Brussels, furthermore, has its own idiosyncratic varieties,
notably Gueuze and the fruit flavoured Kriek
varieties. A wide selection (over 150) of Belgian beers can be found
at the Loplop Cafe, Schildknaapstraat 29).
Centrally located beer havens include La Bécasse,
Rue de Tabora 11, A La Mort Subite, Rue Montagne
aux Herbes Potagères, and La Rose Blanche,
Grande-Place 11. Le Soleil, Rue des Capucins 63,
is an intimate little bar, tailor-made for an evening of good beer
and great chats.
A number of bars transform into clubs as the night wears on, including
lively Le Sud, Rue de l’Ecuyer 43–5,
open Thursday to Saturday. A quieter evening is on offer at the
Théâtre de Toone VII, Impasse Schuddeveld
6, off Petite Rue de Bouchers, where puppets form a backdrop to
the drinking. For the younger audience, the bars around Place St
Géry are quite popular venues.
Casinos
There is a casino in nearby Namur. The Casino
de Naumur, Avenue Baron Moreau 1, is open daily 1400–0500
hrs. Visitors are required to hold a passport or ID document and
dress code is smart and strictly no trainers. 21 years is the minimum
age for entry.
Clubs
Top international DJs play techno, house and jungle at The
Fuse, Rue Blaes 208. Mirano Contintal,
Chemin de Louvain 38, is tacky with a yuppie crowd, while Le
Bal, Boulevard du Triomphe, is just tacky. Tourists might
meet other tourists at Espace de Nuit, Rue Marché
aux Fromages, near Grand-Place, while most of the hipper clubs have
a gay and sometimes lesbian night. The Brussels trendy set goes
to Les Jeux d’Hiver, Bois de la Cambre.
Live music
Jazz
dominates the live music scene in the city. There is jazz on Saturday
and most Sundays at L’Archiduc, Rue Antoine
Dansaert 6. Frequent concerts at Fool Moon, Quai
de Mariemont 26, featuring anything from jazz-funk to drum‘n’bass
and some Latin music. Although VK is a trek away
at Rue de l’Ecole 76, this is where alternative sounds including
hip hop, rock and indie music. Magasin 4, Rue du
Magasin 4, offers a more central venue for indie and hip hop.
Folk fans should try Thunderbird Café, Quai
du Commerce 48, where there are usually twice-weekly gigs on offer,
as well as excellent food. Informal weekend jazz ‘jam sessions’
are a feature of the LopLop Café.
The main venues for touring big-names are the Forest National,
Avenue du Globe 36, and AB (Ancienne Belgique),
Boulevard Anspach, for the bigger gigs, and Botanique,
Rue Royale 236, and Cirque Royal, Rue de l’Enseignement
81, for smaller acts. |
