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 the 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 April 2024.
Best gigs in Brussels:
5 April (brdcst festival special)
Tirzah
Ancienne Belgique, AB Flex (part of brdcst Festival)
South London singer-songwriter Tirzah appeared at Ancienne Belgique’s brdcst festival in 2022. This time she’s back as curator as well as performer, inviting other distinctive acts such as Loraine James, Mica Levi and Meril Wubslin to join her at AB. Live, Essex-born Tirzah relies on her soft voice and the off-kilter sounds of long-term collaborator Levi to beguile and entrance the audience. Levi wrote the soundtracks for two of Jonathan Glazer’s films, including Zone of Interest and sci-fi horror Under the Skin.
Tirzah. Credit: Clare Shilland.
Tirzah hardly moves once she’s on stage, and is usually dressed in the same hoodie and jeans you suspect she turned up in at the venue. But her understated delivery, combined with Levi’s quirky beats, creates an atmosphere that matches her intimate lyrics, making you feel as though you’re sitting on the floor of her bedroom listening to her as she records her tracks on Garageband on her Mac. She will be playing songs from her third album trip9love…??? but fans will want to hear Devotion, Gladly and Affection from her first album.
Lionstorm
Ancienne Belgique, AB Club (part of brdcst Festival)
Lionstorm are a queer rap duo from the Netherlands that like to challenge heteronormative audiences with in-your-face sexuality bordering on obscenity. Check out numbers such as Vies (dirty) and No H8ro (geddit?). If you follow them on Instagram, you’ll see them playing a game of cat and mouse with the platform’s censors.
Lionstorm
Over aggressive beats, Vuige Muis (dirty mouse) and Skerrie Sterrie, who are also photographers, celebrate the fun of being lesbian with lyrics that mock boring straights and draw on visuals from social media and the sex industry. They have already recorded a track with Dutch singer Merol. Expect a fun show that pulls no punches. For fans of Peaches, Die Antwoord and Muna.
Brighde Chaimbeul
Ancienne Belgique, AB Club (part of brdcst festival)
Chaimbeul, from the Isle of Skye off Scotland’s north-west coast, has spearheaded a new wave of interest in a type of bagpipe called Scottish smallpipes. Unlike the better-known type associated with kilt-clad men, smallpipes are powered by bellows that the player works by squeezing under their arm. They’re similar to the Irish uillean pipes (uillean meaning elbow in Irish Gaelic).
Brighde Chaimbeul
Lankum, the Irish band that is also probably the other best-known neo-folk outfit, played on Chaimbeul’s first album, The Reeling, while she guested on a single of indie darling Caroline Polachek. Colin Stetson, the avant-garde saxophonist, collaborated on her most recent album, Carry Them With Us. Her music is a mix of infectious reels and plaintiff ballads. She played at last year’s Feeërieën festival, also organised by Ancienne Belgique, in the Royal Park. She may seem a strange choice for this festival but Chaimbeul definitely qualifies as a creator of music that draws on musical traditions to create something new and bewitching.
10 April
Juliana Holter
Orangerie, Botanique
Holter’s music draws as much on the chamber pop of the Beach Boys and minimalist composers like Steve Reich as it does other female singer songwriters such as Kate Bush and Joanna Newson. She will be playing tracks from her sixth album Something in the Room She Moves, a record she made after the birth of her daughter.
Julia Holter performs live in the KEXP studio. Credit: KEXP
Holter will be playing in Botanique’s Orangerie, the largest room in the former hothouse complex. I hope that Botanique will roll out the seats, as they have done before for other musicians who blend classical, avant-garde and pop, because it would help the audience concentrate on her intricately constructed pieces.
16 April
Milanosport
Ancienne Belgique, AB Club
To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Milanosport before I saw their gig listed at AB. But I’m going to continue doggedly supporting any indie guitar bands that come out of Italy so that the world knows that there is more to Italian music than the insufferable Maneskin. Plus, I am a fan of the name even if my Roman friends often like to remind me that the best thing about Milan "is the road to Rome".
Milanosport
That said, the AB website says that they combine surf rock with post-punk, though I can’t hear it myself. Milanosport sound like British indie band Editors (who in turn sounded like Interpol, who in turn tried to sound like Joy Division). But there is nothing truly original in pop music so do give these five northern Italians a spin.
Declan McKenna
Ancienne Belgique, AB Main Hall
I included this artist because I felt I was light on milquetoast male post-adolescent indie singers and I didn’t cover The 1975’s gig at Forest National because it was sold out. Oh, and also because I thought my daughter quite likes him but it turns out she likes Declan Kenny. McKenna, from Enfield, north of London, is now 25 (bastard) but he was only 17 when his song about corruption at FIFA and the glaring inequalities of the 2014 World Cup being staged in Brazil became a big hit.
Declan Mckenna. Credit: Emma Viola Lilja
Though McKenna appeals to the Arctic Monkeys/Sam Fender fanbase, he’s been canny enough to pen songs in a variety of styles. Mulholland’s Dinner and Wine features chunky synth parts. Expect a young crowd and an energetic performance. It’s not sold out yet but if he does fill AB’s Main Hall, that’s not bad going for someone who was born in 1998.
25 April
Meryl
Ancienne Belgique, AB Main Hall
Coming out of one of France’s 12 overseas territories, the rapper and singer Meryl will treat Brussels to her latest EP Ozoror, honouring her unique mix of French rap and musical stylings from the island of Martinique. If you have followed the Aya Nakamura and Paris Olympics debacle, this is another French artist has also made her name by transposing the music from her home country, blending genres such as Haitian kompa music, dancehall and modern French rap.
Meryl
Now, with nearly a decade of making music on her CV, including two LPs and one mixtape/EP, the word about her unique sound has spread across the world. Meryl has won praise in France for her on-stage presence, with an energy and choreography rarely matched in the country’s rich rap scene.
28 April
Yard Act
Botanique
Of all the new wave of noisy punky British bands (think Idles, Pigs x6, etc), Yard Act stand out from the crowd thanks to the witty lyrics of frontman James Smith who rants about the "knobheads" and "racists" that blight English life. At his best, Smith puts you in mind of other "professional Northerners" like The Fall’s Mark E. Smith (RIP) while his sharp wit evokes Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker.
Yard Act. Credit: Paul Hudson
Fans of Sleaford Mods’ diatribes against contemporary English life will find much to enjoy while guitarist Sam Shipstone rips jagged riffs that could come from Gang of Four’s Andy Gill. But don’t think that their live shows are all rage and bile. It’s hard to resist a chuckle if you listen to Smith’s on tracks like Land of the Blind or Deadhorse. Yard Act will be playing tracks from their second LP, Where’s My Utopia? as well as the debut, The Overload.
