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 it can be tough to pick out the best gigs. This is why we have decided to put together a 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 July 2024.
Update: As there are usually fewer concerts and gigs in Brussels during the summer months, Simon has picked out the best festival acts playing in July, boosted by an unmissable gig in Antwerp.
Best gigs this month:
Saturday 6 July
Kara Jackson
Brosella festival, Osseghem Park, Theatre Stage (at 18:15)
Kara Jackson, from Illinois, was a poet before she became a singer. She was the US’ National Youth Laureate in 2019, two years before Amanda Gorman who became famous for reading her poem, The Hill We Climb, at the inauguration of US President Joe Biden. In 2019, Jackson released her first EP and followed up with a studio album Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? in 2023.
Cover of Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? by Kara Jackson
Jackson’s music is intimate and personal, with her latest album being largely inspired by the death of a close friend from cancer. Her influences, including Joni Mitchell, are easy to hear. She’s playing the early evening slot at Brosella and her laid-back, blues-influenced style should be just right for that time of day.
Oumou Sangare
Brosella festival, Osseghem Park, Theatre Stage (at 22:50)
Playing later on the same day is Mali legend Oumou Sangare. I was going to start this by writing about Sangare’s "long musical career" or by calling her a "veteran" of Mali’s music scene, both badly disguised references to her age. But then I realised that she is younger than me. Sangare came to the attention of the global audience outside Mali thanks to her compatriot, Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure, who got her signed to the World Circuit record label. Sangare is a fantastic singer and live performer and can draw on tracks from her nine solo studio albums, the first of which came out in 1990.
Oumou Sangare
More recently, she worked with Beyoncé and Jay-Z for a song on the soundtrack album Lion King: The Gift. Fans will hope she will perform Minata Waraba and other songs from her 2017 best-selling record, Mogoya. There’s a nice link to another artist featured in this month’s guide to artists’ performing in July. Sampha, who is appearing at the Werchter festival on Sunday, 7 July, reworked Sangare’s Minata Waraba for a 2018 remix album. Sangare is topping the bill on the first day "jazz and urban ethno" of the Brosella festival.
Janelle Monáe
Rock Werchter, Saturday (at 18:05)
When I thought about which artists I was going to write about this month, I was worried that I would struggle to find some interesting ones. My pessimism was misplaced, dear reader. Janelle Monáe is one of the best live acts around today. Her last album, The Age of Pleasure, left behind the Afro-futurism of her first ArchAndroid LP in favour of straightforward hymns to sensual pleasure. You won’t want Lipstick Lover to come on the car radio if you’re driving with your kids (if you’re a parent) or your parents (if you’re a teen).
Janelle Monae in 2018. Credit: Wikimedia
Discovered by Big Boi from Outkast, she was mentored by no less a funk/RnB divinity than Prince himself. She can dance like Michael Jackson and James Brown (check out her live performances of Tightrope from her ArchAndroid album if you don’t believe me). She has a surprisingly early slot on Werchter’s bill for Saturday, from 18:05 to 19:05. Later on the same stage, you can see Roisin Murphy while Dua Lipa is headlining the main stage from 23:30 to 01:00. If you’re going to be at Werchter for other acts, make an effort to get there earlier to catch Janelle: for me, she’s for sure the best female act on the bill that day, if not the best live act overall.
Sunday, 7 July
Taxiwars
Brosella, Theatre Stage at 23:00
Taxi Wars is a project of Tom Barman, the founder of dEUS, possibly Belgium’s best-known band (and certainly one of the best – IMHO their album The Ideal Crash, released in 1999 can hold its own with Radiohead’s Paranoid Android). Barman is a jack of all trades, having also directed the cult Belgian film, Any Way the Wind Blows (2003), set in his hometown of Antwerp and following the lives of several characters intertwining with each other over 24 hours.
Taxiwars
While dEUS were a guitar-driven indie band, Taxiwars, a project with saxophonist Robin Verheyen, is more like the laid-back, louche supper jazz of John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards, though you can guess that it’s Barman’s project thanks to his trademark lyrics and delivery.
Sampha
Rock Werchter, The Barn (17:40)
Sampha, or Sampha Lahai Sisay, is probably one of the greatest musicians, producers and songwriters you’ve never heard of (unless you have, if you see what I mean). He has worked with some of the greatest current artists in RnB/soul including Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Solange. He co-wrote Three Hour Drive with Alicia Keys for her 2020 Alicia album.
Sampha at Primavera Festival in Barcelona in 2017. Credit: Nickolay Pirogov
His voice is at once tender and pained and he imbues his songs with a rare emotional range. Check out the moving ballad inspired by his love for his mother (No One Knows Me) Like the Piano from his first solo album, Process and then the haunted dreams of Blood on Me. On this tour, he will no doubt mainly be playing tracks from Lahai, his second album which came out in 2023. His live shows always feature some of the UK’s best young musicians. He’s playing in a tent at Werchter so, whatever the weather in Flanders’ fields that day, it will be hot. A must-see for Belgium’s festival season.
Friday 12 July
André 3000
Gent Jazz festival
Mr André 3000 was one of the founding members of Atlanta’s rap legendary outfit, Outkast, along with Big Boi (who discovered Janelle Monáe – see above). Outkast were part of Atlanta's early golden hip-hop years (creating an alternative scene to the East v West coast beef) before later becoming globally renowned for singalong hits Hey Ya (and its "shake it" refrain) and hip-hop love song, Miss Jackson. After Outkast’s huge successes in the late 1990s and 2000s, André went rather quiet, popping up as a guest rapper on records by other artists such as Erykah Badu and Kanye West. Then, last year, he astonished all his fans by releasing a solo album of him playing flute and other wind instruments.
Andre 3000, the former lead singer of US hip hop act Outkast. Credit: Gent Jazz
Admirers who were expecting more of the poppy soul/rap mix of Outkast were instead given an album of what is known as spiritual jazz. Rather than the breakneck flurry of notes of bebop or the cool of Miles Davis and Bill Evans, spiritual jazz draws on Eastern music, religion and philosophy and encourages meditation and contemplation. After the initial shock, the album is gaining recognition. 3000 will not be relying on his flamboyant stage presence for the show but nevertheless it promises to be a great event. Remember to wash your dashiki in time and dig out your beads.
Saturday 13 July
Ictus, Brussels Philharmonic & Vlaams Radiokoor perform Steve Reich’s 'Music for 18 Musicians'
Walden festival, Brussels Museum of Natural Sciences (at 17:30)
Steve Reich is probably the most famous Minimalist composer, a genre of classical music he practically invented single-handedly in the 1960s. Minimalism relies on repeated figures with slight changes in notes and accents that create a subtly changing musical flow.
Music for 18 musicians: Ictus, Brussels Philharmonic & Vlaams Radiokoor
Music for 18 Musicians, first performed in 1978, is his most famous piece and, indeed, probably the most famous Minimalist piece. It will be performed by some of Belgium's best musicians from the Brussels Philharmonic and the Vlaams Radiokoor plus Ictus, an ensemble who have specialised in post-classical and contemporary works by composers such as Reich and Philip Glass. The piece is beautifully hypnotic so go easy on the white wine and Duvels beforehand if you don’t want to wake up a few hours later wondering where you are.
Eydís Evensen
Walden festival, Brussels Museum of Natural Sciences (19:20)
The Walden festival is inspired by the book of Henry Thoreau and in particular this line: "When I hear music I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest."
Eydís Evense performing in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2021.
It features a mix of classical, jazz and global music and takes place in and around Parc Léopold with the main stage on the grounds of the Natural History Museum. Eydís Evensen is an Icelandic pianist in the style of compatriot Ólafur Arnalds. She’s playing in an early evening slot and her gentle music should fit well on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
Antwerp
Monday 15 July
Nils Frahm
Openluchttheater (OLT), Rivierenhof, Antwerp
Nils Frahm is a classically trained German pianist who has been combining electronic sounds and instruments with his exceptional keyboard and composing skills into what has become a new genre, along with other pioneers such as Ólafur Arnalds.
Nils Frahm
Frahm manages to deliver an entrancing live performance as he hops from grand piano to classic analogue synths and then to an old church harmonium, or physically manipulates analogue echo machines to create new sounds. It’s just him on stage but with two huge banks of instruments and effects devices that he uses to weave his musical spells over audiences that are never anything less than captivated. Fingers crossed for good weather at this open-air venue.
