One of the city's great hidden treasures, the Brussels music scene hosts some of the biggest and best up-and-coming artists and bands in the international, European and Belgian scene.
Every month, Europe's capital has no shortage of thrilling concerts – and picking out the best gigs can be tough. This is why we have put together a monthly guide to discover the best live acts in the city, perfect for new and old Brusseleirs alike.
Carefully selected by music journalist Simon Taylor, here are The Brussels Times' choices for the concerts and gigs that you and your friends should not miss throughout October 2024.
Best gigs this month:
6 October
IAMDBB
Ancienne Belgique
IAMDBB (real name Diana de Brito – DBB, geddit?) hails from Manchester but was born in Portugal to an Angolan mother. She sings and raps and her music has flavours of early Doja Cat while her voice can remind you of Erykah Badu, one of her musical inspirations. She has been recognised by no less a figure of rap royalty than former Fugees lead, Lauryn Hill, who invited Diana to support her on her 2018 tour. IAMDBB is touring to promote her latest mixtape, Love is War Volume 6.
UK artist IAMDBB was due to perform in February before her tour was pulled. Credit: Side Stage Collective / Flickr
She’s been tipped to break out big since 2018. Hopefully, it will finally happen this year so check her out now while you can. This gig was originally planned for February but was postponed with the artist saying back then that she was not able to "put on the sort of show she wanted". Let’s hope she delivers on her ambitions this time.
9 October
Goat Girl
AB Club
Goat Girl emerged from the same (and, by now, rather overhyped) Brixton Hill indie scene as black midi and Black Country, New Road. They formed in 2016, naming themselves after the Goat Boy character in US comedian Bill Hicks’ act. By all means, check out Hick’s “Goat Boy” song but be warned that it is nearly 30 years ago and will offend many. But, then again, maybe they just think he’s funny.
Goat Girl
Goat Girl’s big indie claim to fame is that they supported The Fall at the Manchester band’s last gig before founder and lead singer Mark E. Smith died in July 2017. Since then, they have released three albums including their latest, Below the Waste and On All Fours. The band range from scratchy punk-funk to off-kilter pop where they almost seem embarrassed by the fact that they can write catchy hooks. It’s reductive to compare them to other all-woman bands but their eclectic mix of styles makes me think of The Slits and Warpaint, plus other UK indie bands like The Orielles and US groups like Chastity Belt.
13 October
Arooj Aftab
Bozar
Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab broke out in 2021 with the release of her third album, Vulture Prince. Barack Obama helped give her global exposure by including one of the tracks (Mohabbat) on his summer playlist. The album combines Aftab’s seductive voice singing in Urdu with the world-class playing of Scottish harpist Maeve Gilchrist to create a melancholic, intimate atmosphere invoking the loss and loneliness that her Urdu lyrics describe.
Arooj Aftab at Le Poisson Rouge in New York (2014)
As well as Mohabbat, check out the tracks Saans Lo ("just breathe"), a poem by her friend Annie Ali Khan, a women’s rights campaigner who took her own life, and Suroor ("joy/pleasure"). Her follow-up album, Love in Exile, with Indian-American pianist Vijay Iyer, and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily didn’t hit the heights of Vulture Prince although it continued in the vein of moody atmospherics. In 2024, she released Night Reign, teaming up again with Gilchrist and Iyer and featuring guest appearances from Elvis Costello and US musician and poet Moor Mother. It’s a return to Aftab’s best form – with Aey Nehin ("arrival"), Raat Ki Rani ("night jasmine") and Na Gul ("flower") the standout tracks.
18 October
The Darts
Botanique, Witloof Bar
This reference is going to date me but so be it. The Darts are not to be confused with the nine-member pop-doo-wop act that hit the UK charts in the 1970s and 80s. Instead, The Darts (with the definite article) are a four-piece all-female band from Los Angeles. Channelling classic psychobilly acts like The Cramps, The Darts make loud noisy garage rock with a feminist attitude inspired by the Riot Grrrl movement and bands like Bikini Kill and L7. As if that wasn’t enough credibility, The Darts are signed to the Alternative Tentacles label of Dead Kennedys’ founder and frontman, Jello Biafra.
Garage rock band from the US, The Darts, are tipped for one of the best live shows of this year.
The band are led by Nicole Laurenne who is, unbelievably, a municipal court judge by day. She intersperses her singing with attacks on a Farfisa organ. I’ve always been a sucker for a retro 60s organ and this is no exception. Expect a full-on, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners performance and probably one of the live shows of the year. For fans of The Courettes, psychobilly, garage rock and old-time rock’n’roll. It’s also in the Witloof Bar, Botanique’s smallest room, so it will be even more up-close and personal.
17 October
Dustin O’Halloran/Margaret Hermant
Eglise de Laeken, Parvis Notre Dame, 1020 Brussels
O’Halloran is an American composer and pianist best known for writing the scores for Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and the film about the adopted Indian boy, Lion, with German musician Hauschka. He is also half of A Winged Victory for the Sullen, with Adam Wiltzie. AWVFTS (the acronym is much easier) combines the two musicians’ symphonic compositions with electronics to create huge, panoramic soundscapes. They have been embraced by the classical music world, having appeared at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the annual Proms festival.
Dustin O’Halloran will be performing with Flemish harpist Margaret Hermant at a church in Laeken.
The American composer will be performing his latest Deutsche Grammophon release, entitled 1 0 0 1, a meditation on the human mind and the impact of AI on experience and perception. The album, which features a choir was recorded, inevitably, in Iceland. It is meant to be listened to in its entirety so the listener reflects on the act of listening. He is supported by Margaret Hermant, a Flemish violinist and harpist who is a member of Belgium’s avant-garde/post-classical ensemble, Echo Collective, that specialises in the works of composers like Iceland’s Jóhann Jóhannsson, Estonian Arvo Pärt and Philip Glass. The collective have recorded a version of Radiohead’s “Amnesia” album. Hermant and her fellow musicians have played and recorded with O’Halloran and AWVFTS.
18 October
Brad Mehldau
Flagey (sold out but there is a waiting list for returns)
For my money, US musician Mehldau is the finest jazz pianist alive today, an honour he owes to the stroke that robbed Keith Jarrett of the use of his left hand (though I am sure he would rather that Jarrett had kept the crown). Mehldau played in Brussels in 2023 when he performed his piano concerto with the Belgian National Orchestra followed by a solo piano performance that drew on his album of Beatles covers, Songs Your Mother Should Know.
Jazz master Brad Mehldau mixes both classic and contemporary music, including Beatles covers.
At Flagey, Mehldau will return to his jazz origins with the classical trio format, flanked by drummer Jorge Rossy and bassist Felix Moseholm. Expect a mixture of jazz trio standards (will they match the heights of Jarrett’s recordings with drummer Jack DeJohnette and bass player Gary Peacock?) and covers of well-known contemporary songs.
25 October
Pat Metheny
Bozar
A coincidence that two of the greatest players in contemporary jazz are performing in Brussels in the same month? Maybe, but who’s complaining? Again, for my money, Pat Metheny is the greatest living jazz guitarist around, mainly for his lyricism when playing, his diversity and the beauty of his compositions (check out the albums he made with keyboardist Lyle Mays). The last time he played in Brussels in 2020, the jazz artist continued his longtime habit of appearing with young, up-and-coming jazz musicians with drummer Joe Dyson and keyboard player James Francies, at times indistinguishable from Metheny’s most famous accompanist, Jaco Pastorius.
Pat Metheny, a contemporary jazz maestro, is considered one of the best jazz guitarists in the world.
For this show, Metheny will be performing solo and playing tracks from his most recent release, Dream Box/Moon Dial. Metheny recently found the songs in a forgotten folder on his computer. While, for me, he is at his best interacting with some of the other legendary musicians he has played with over the years (such as saxophonist Ornette Coleman and pianist Herbie Hancock), his solo work (especially on acoustic guitar) foregrounds the romantic side of his musical personality. It’s not a cheap concert but there are tickets still available for €23.
24 October
Eosine
Botanique, Rotonde
Eosine (which is the name of a chemical compound used as a colouring agent – don’t ask me why) hail from Liège and play indie rock strongly influenced by the shoegaze/dream pop sounds of Slowdive and the Cocteau Twins. The similarities are further reinforced by the wistful vocals of singer and founder Elena Lacroix.
Eosine, from Liège, are one of Belgium's best up-and-coming bands.
At their gig in Botanique’s fabulous Rotonde (where they used to grow really tall tropical plants), Eosine will play tracks from their recently released Liminal EP. Eosine are shaping up as one of the most exciting indie bands of the moment from Belgium and I would love to see them break out internationally. Maybe the next twelve months will be their big chance. For fans of Wolf Alice, Daughter and Garbage.
31 October
Kim Gordon
Bozar
Gordon made her name and reputation as a founding member and the bass player of seminal New York art-rock band Sonic Youth. In their 20-year career, they made some of the most important indie records including Daydream Nation in 1988, which includes one of my all-time favourite tracks, Teenage Riot, a song that was rarely off my turntable the year it came out. Gordon went solo in 2011 after a painful separation from bandmate and husband Thurston Moore after he cheated on her with a woman twenty years his junior. They had been together for over 30 years. But I’m not judging the utter scumbag.
Kim Gordon, the former lead singer of legendary band NYC band Sonic Youth.
Gordon’s solo work continues in the vein of her work with Sonic Youth, drawing on her inspirations from contemporary and avant-garde art and a love of guitar-based noise. She is referred to as “punk rock royalty” but that term (which refers to her time with Sonic Youth) doesn’t capture her importance as a figure on the arts scene. Live, expect noise, attitude and tracks from her latest LP, The Collective. No fucks will be given and no quarter taken. Do Bozar and its genteel audiences know what to expect?
