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Nightlife Brussels’ location at the heart of Europe encourages top artists and budding stars to tour here. However, 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 with expatriates. The legal drinking age in Belgium is 15 years and the price of a beer is around €2. Aside from the tacky discos for tourists, there is the big-name-DJ-drawing Fuse. The best send out their sounds into the night, around Place de St-Géry, Manneken-Pis and in the Marolles district. Clubs open at 2300, heat up at midnight and survive until about 0600. 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 cost about €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 also be of help. 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.funinbrussels.com/midnight/discotheque.htm or www.noctis.com). Bars: Most of the city’s trendy bars are to be found on or around Place St Gery. These include Mappa Mundo, Zebra and Roi des Belges. Java, in Rue St-Gery, is another good bar and has the added advantage of a basement dancefloor at weekends. Close-by, at Rue Borgval 14, is the Café Central, the ideal place to while away the hours, listen to the occasional jazz concert during the week and catch the resident DJ spinning tunes at weekends. Central 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 good 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. Casinos: There is a casino in nearby Naumur. The Casino de Naumur, Avenue Baron Moreau 1, is open daily 1400-0500. Visitors are required to hold a passport of ID document and dress code is smart (strictly no trainers). The minimum age for entry is 21 years. 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 may 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 a lesbian) night. Tels Quels magazine (in French) has the most comprehensive gay nightlife listings. Bazaar, Rue des Capucins 63, creates an Arabian atmosphere with colourful décor and boasts a basement dancefloor and airy, upstairs café-bar. This is the place for cocktails, dancing and the odd concert. Live music: Jazz dominates the live music scene in Brussels. 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 Latin music. Although VK is a trek away at Rue de l’Ecole 76, this is where alternative sounds – hip hop, rock and indie music – are given a hearing. 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 good food. 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. |
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