The 17th edition of the Brussels Summer Festival (BSF) begins on Tuesday evening at 6.00 p.m. in the centre of the Belgian capital. The programme, normally lasting 10 days, has been condensed into 5, but that is unlikely to have any effect on participation since ticket sales are higher than at the same time last year, according to new BSF Director Fabrizio Gentile. One-day passes for Thursday 16 August and Saturday 18 August are almost sold out.
In 2017, close to 117,000 people took part in the event.
The festival will be headlined on Thursday by rappers Orelsan and Roméo Elvis x Le Motel, and on Saturday by the group of U.S. actor Jared Leto, “Thirty Seconds to Mars” along with Arsenal. Other big names such as the Belgian rock group dEUS and the French electro-rock group Shaka Ponk will be among the crowd-pullers on the other days.
“The stage at the Place des Palais has evolved,” Gentile stressed. “It has been moved forward into the centre of the public and is a bit lower, which will allow you to be closer to the artistes. It’s an experience not to be missed !”
At the Place du Musée, the stage has been transformed into an open one, which means it can accomodate a bigger public. It will be the place to make musical discoveries, with Lylac, Sage and Wild Shetler, for example, performing on Wednesday.
The more intimate atmosphere of the Salle de la Madeleine will also be the place to go to on a voyage of discovery: Belgian groups Atome and Sonnfjord, among others, are billed to appear there on Tuesday, followed on Wednesday by Noa Moon and Fùgù Mango.
The Mont des Arts will feature more thematic evenings. Wednesday 15 August, for example, will be dedicated to the French song, with Camille and Raphaël among the artistes scheduled to perform.
All practical information is available on the site of the event, www.bsf.be, and on the mobile app, which has been upgraded this year and even includes the times of the subway trains that have been added specially for the festival.
The Brussels Times
