Search form

menu menu
  • Daily & Weekly newsletters
  • Buy & download The Bulletin
  • Comment on our articles

What’s on: 27 April to 3 May

16:18 26/04/2018
Our top picks of culture and activities in Brussels

One need not travel all the way to Buenos Aires to see the world’s greatest tango since it can all be found at the annual Brussels Tango Festival. Several events are free, including a performance in front of Central Station where dancers taking to a rope three metres in the air, and the Night of the Maestros at Grand’Place. The rest includes energetic stage performances, workshops and even parties where you can show off your own Tango moves. 26 April to 1 May, across Brussels

Ever wonder what Brussels looked like in 1958, with vintage cars and stands from the World Fair enveloping the city? Experience a little slice of this history at Vintage Fair 58. More than 120 stands will be stuffed with vintage pieces and mementos, and it’s all up for sale. The fair – held at the foot of the Atomium, naturally – is part of the months-long celebration the 60th anniversary of the World Fair in Brussels. 28-29 April, Square de l’Atomium

Get your hips moving during International Jazz Day. Along with other cities across Europe, Brussels always takes part in this annual event that celebrates the musical genre’s fundamental role in uniting people across the globe and providing a cultural outlet during some pretty bleak times. Beginning as early as 8.30, pianos and brass will be played all over the capital, and radio stations will dedicate the day to jazz music. Most of the events are free, and the rest are democratically priced. 30 April, across Brussels

Belgian enfant terrible Jan Fabre has created an uncharacteristically restrained series of reliefs dedicated to important women in his life. My Queens details in marble the profile of each of the eight women – wearing birthday hats; this is Fabre, after all – and a life-size sculpture of the real Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, which he made in 2016 for her 15th birthday. They are placed in the Fine Arts Museum together with masterpieces by Jacques Jordaens, a kind of passing of the baton from the old world to the new. Until 19 August, Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Rue de la Régence 3

ENTER Festival BXL is a festival apart. Public research and advocacy group Demos took four multi-disciplinary artists and assigned each one to a specific Brussels neighbourhood: Laken, Haren, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre and the Beguinage district in Brussels-City. Each artist has spent the last several months working with residents to create a piece that explores a specific question related to their communities. Some extra socially oriented culture and services have been added to the mix, along with festival centres and food stands. Most events are free. 26-29 April, across Brussels

More than 200 municipalities are throwing up stages both indoor and out for Lokale Helden (Local Heroes), a celebration of local music. Musicians and bands from across the land will take it upon themselves to put on, oh, about 1,000 shows in concert halls, squares, schools, cultural centres and bars. Saint-Gilles’s ‘Bathroom Singers’ takes the house concert one step further by staging shows in showers and toilets. Check out the Electro Live Jam at the VK, African beats at Kuumba or the Jazz Lab at the Muntpunt Grand Café. The list is endless. 27 April, across Brussels and Flanders

Once you’ve come down from Local Heroes on Friday, head back out for Day of the Dance on Saturday. You’ll run into contemporary dancers in public spaces – such as P.A.R.T.S’s City Flocking – on your way to one of dozens of venues hosting dance for the day. At Kaaistudio’s you’ll find Jonathan Burrows and guests moving to live music by Matteo Fargion and manipulating dozens of objects Burrows himself has sculptured from clay over the years. At Bozar, Karin Vyncke uses the exhibition Spanish Still Life as inspiration, while at KVS a double-bill sees Lisbeth Gruwez taking charge of an open rehearsal of her new piece with 11 dancers and Yassin Mrabtifi performing the popping and locking he learned in the train and metro stations of Brussels. 28 April, across Brussels and Flanders

 

Brussels is overtaken every May with a sense of pride as the gay, lesbian, bi and trans community celebrates their lives, loves and commitment to diversity. The Belgian Pride Festival. A few events happen on 3 May, including a showing of the film Carol and spoken word at the Pianofabriek, but the official kick-of is the following day, with a city hall reception and mini-parade that takes in Manneken Pis – usually dressed for the occasion. The following two weeks of events and activities – including the Massimade Festival of gay films from Africa – culminate in the Pride Parade on 19 May. Until 19 May, across Brussels

Dance all night long amid electronic music, paintings, photographs and a giant stained-glass window by the great Kehinde Wiley. What could go wrong? Bozar Night is one big, wild party with all of the halls of the fine arts centre filled with international DJs and other electronic artists mixing beats that make illustrations by Fernand Léger look just that much better. It’s Bozar – but better. 30 April 20.00-3.00, Rue Ravenstein 23

If you’ve seen Ed Sheeran in concert, chances are you’re familiar with Irish musician Ryan McMullan, who has opened many a show for him. Now McMullan is on tour with his crop of storytelling songs, delivered with a smoky intensity and an acoustic guitar. Highly recommended after a long, hard day. 1 May 20.00, Ancienne Belgique, Boulevard Anspach 110

OUTSIDE BRUSSELS

Belgium kicks its outdoor festival season off right with the Roots & Roses Festival just outside the town of Lessines in the far north of Hainaut province. The vibe is decidedly mixed, with the Roots stage featuring folk, blues and – duh – roots and the Roses stage more rock’n’roll. Bands all hail from the US and Europe, and the line-up includes garage rock band Black Lips and swamp blues multi-instrumentalist Tony Joe White. The not-to-be-missed psychedelic rock band The Darts wrote a new song and made a video just for Roots & Roses. It’s very Darts. 1 May, Ancien Chemin d’Ollignies 10, Lessines

 

Spring is springing, and it’s time to cycle into the bucolic Pajottenland southwest of Brussels. While there, check out the Vanity Fair exhibition at Gaasbeek Castle, a dialogue between contemporary Belgian artist Thomas Lerooy and 19th-century Belgian artist Felicien Rops. They both take satirical, sardonic looks at decadent themes such as transitoriness, mortality and decay. Of course, there’s much more to enjoy at Gaasbeek –  the remarkable château itself, its vistas and 125 acres of gardens, forests, hills and dales, including the tallest beech trees in Belgium. And there’s a special Vanity Fair lunch at the Brasserie Graaf van Egmond, housed in the old concièrgerie. Until 10 June, Kasteelstraat 40, Gaasbeek (Lennik)

A free grand opening awaits you in the lovely town of Lasne, not far from Brussels. The EleDanse school offers folk and traditional dances such as Scottish, mazurka, polka, the jig and the circassian circle. You don’t need any experience, nor a dance partner. And your instructor Elena Leibbrand speaks fluent English. 1 May, 16.00-20.00, Chaussée de Rixensart 7, Lasne (Walloon Brabant)

Written by Lisa Bradshaw, Molly Dove, Richard Harris