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 Brussels folk 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.
Best gigs this month:
1 October
The Beths
Orangerie, Botanique
I normally try to avoid repeating what the music media write but Botanique has lifted a quote from Rolling Stone magazine to advertise the Beths’ gig which says: “One of the greatest indie-rock bands of their time.” I couldn’t have put it better. The Beths, from New Zealand, play an up-tempo, highly infectious brand of indie pop of a calibre that makes them stand out from their peers. Their melodies and guitar riffs are catchy and sublime, and their lyrics are witty and wry. The title of their first album, Future Me Hates Me, says it all.
New Zealander band The Beths
I am lucky enough to have seen them twice, once at AB’s small upstairs club and once at a small stage at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound festival. Both times I came away with a smile on my face, a restored faith in the ability of guitar-based indie to charm and beguile, and admiration for the quality and range of the Kiwi music scene. The Beths released their fourth studio album Straight Line Was A Lie in August. One for fans of Alvvays, Courtney Barnett and the Buzzcocks.
12 October
Kaito XXL
AB Club, Ancienne Belgique
Kaito XXL
Ancienne Belgique has given Kaito Winse, a multi-instrumentalist from Burkina Faso, an evening in the club to showcase his talents. He will be performing solo on flute and percussion as well as part of the electro-punk outfit Avalanche Kaito (with Belgian musicians Benjamin Chaval and Nico Gitto) and with DJ Palmbomen II. The evening also features a performance with the Belgian acapella group Ravekoor. Expect an evening of sonic and musical surprises.
13 October
NewDad
Botanique
Ireland: the musical gift that keeps on giving. NewDad from scenic Galway are another excellent guitar-based, indie-pop band that the Irish music scene continues to generate. Their music is bitter sweet indiepop with enough jangly guitars to fill two sides of an NME compilation cassette (a reference for older readers ;-)).
Ireland's NewDad
The four-piece band, led by Julie Dawson, have released one album, “Madra”, and have a new EP, “Safe”. They have won fans in Asia, no doubt beguiled by the group’s songs of vulnerability. For fans of Alvvays and Sixpence None the Richer.
13 October
Cymande
Cirque Royal
Cymande are without doubt the greatest British soul and funk band you’ve never heard of. They are truly a cult band in that their phenomenal songs are better known in the US than they are in the UK, their home country. Their songs have been sampled by some of hip-hop’s biggest names such as De La Soul, the Fugees, EPMD and Queen Latifah. French rapper MC Solaar even used one of their cuts for his 1991 hit, Bouge de Là.
British funk band from 1970s Cymande
Manchester indie funkers the Stone Roses were clearly inspired by Cymande’s Bra when they made the lolloping bass, guitar and drums part for their hit, Fools Gold. Cymande (the word means dove in calypso music) disbanded in 1974 after three years but the popularity of their records led to them reforming in the 2010s for some sensational live shows. A film about the band came out in 2022. Expect some deep musical vibrations and a coming together of spirits at Cirque Royal.
17 October
The Selecter
La Madeleine
Coventry’s The Selecter, led by singer Pauline Black, were never as popular as the other ska bands that dominated the UK pop scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s and later inspired a generation of ska punks in the US, like California’s No Doubt, This is possibly because The Selecter were led by a woman with a short haircut, dressed in a sta-prest suit. While there is a lot of sexism in the music industry, the band’s modest success compared to their label mates, The Specials, may be more due to the fact that the original line-up of the band only lasted a year.
UK ska heroes The Selecter.
Nevertheless, in that short time, the group recorded and released some of the best singles on the 2-Tone record label, including On My Radio, Three Minute Hero and Too Much Pressure. The band’s music always incorporated more influences from new wave than the other ska bands, which may have been another factor in their relative lack of chart success. In any case, it is great to see that one of the original Rude Girls, Pauline Black, is still going strong 45 (yikes!) years later. Not so much the Three-Minute Heroes after all.
23 October
Chantal Acda
Botanique
Chantal Acda
Belgo-Dutch singer-songwriter Acda makes music that sits somewhere between indie, jazz and experimental music. Recently her talents have been recognised by leading international musicians such as Nils Frahm (who produced her first album, “Let Your Hands Be My Guide”), saxophonist Colin Stetson and jazz figures such as guitarist Bill Frisell who recorded an album with her at Antwerp’s Middelheim jazz festival in 2023. For her latest release, “The Whale”, Acda has worked with her usual line-up of top-class Belgian musicians.
26 October
Emma-Jean Thackray + Joe Armon Jones
Thackray has built a reputation as one of the UK’s new breed of talented jazz players (her main instrument is the trumpet). She takes her jazz training and make new forms by combining them with the other genres, ranging from funk, hip-hop, soul and grime, to name just a few. Her debut album, Yellow, which came out in 2021, won her instant acclaim from critics and fans with its mix of 70s jazz-funk and spiritual jazz. But tragic personal circumstances led to a different mood for her second album, Weirdo. Her partner of 12 years died of natural causes in 2023, with this event feeding into an album that talks of her own deepest, darkest feelings.
Emma-Jean Thackray and Joe Armon Jones
The album's title reclaims a nickname used against her, while the track Black Hole, recorded with musician and comedian Reggie Watts, talks about her toughest moments, when music is the sole source of comfort. “Only the beat can pull me out”, she sings. While the album draws on the funk, soul and spiritual jazz influences of her first LP, her vocals have a plaintive quality that puts me in mind of the great soul and social protest singers of the 70s like Curtis Mayfield and Donny Hathaway. Following Thackray’s set is UK keyboard player Joe Armon-Jones, one of the founders of dance-soul ensemble Ezra Collective. His new album, All the Quiet – Parts I and II, boasts some of the most exciting names from the UK jazz and soul scene as special guests, including Yazmin Lacey and Greentea Peng.
