Night Life in Brussels

Most of Brussels’ nightlife revolves around Belgian activities of cinema (locals go at least once a week); dining out in gourmet restaurants; or consuming large amounts of the local beers. Best bar crawl is down rue du Marché au Charbon – where every other building houses a lively drinking place. Of the many, Au Soleil at No.86 and the popular Pablo Disco Bar at No.60 are the best picks. Brussels’ renown as a clubbing town is down to one club: the Fuse , its best, where the DJ, Pierre, is the town’s top turntablist. Fast gaining a reputation for democratic partying is Recyclart, a gallery-cum-nightclub hosting dynamic one-nighters .
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 16 years and the price of a beer is around €2.
Aside from the tacky discos for tourists, there is the big-name-DJ-drawing The Fuse. If there’s one discotheque that makes us then envy of the world, it’s the Fuse, the temple of techno, where the top DJs have appeared, to the delight of enthusiasts of this style. Ten years after it opened, the Fuse is still around, withstanding the passage of time. Numerous famous discotheques make Brussels a highly prized city for evenings out. 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 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 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.
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. Informal weekend jazz ‘jam sessions’ are a feature of the LopLop Café (see Bars above).
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