Spice up your staycation: the concerts to go to this summer

For many of us, this summer will be a staycation. But don't worry, among others, Recyclart, Fuse, and Summer Sessions will bring you the right music to get in the holiday mood.

1. Hooray, it's a Recyclart Holiday

Live music is finally returning this summer, albeit on a smaller scale. But that doesn’t make it any less cosy. Recyclart is injecting excitement into its Holidays with improvised stages and a lot of local talent.

While the major festivals are still bound by the straitjacket called corona, the little ones have become more important. That includes Recyclart, which is doing everything it can to ensure that its Holidays can go ahead. “Everything is happening very last minute,” Amber Meulenijzer from the Brussels arts centre tells us. “But we're actually used to that.” (Laughs)

For this edition, Recyclart is collaborating with the community centre Vaartkapoen, with which it shares the site. Every Wednesday in July and August, Vaartkapoen programmes films and on Saturday there are interventions. From Thursday to Saturday, Recyclart is planning live music, performances, and DJ sets. On Thursday and Friday, you can nourish your stomach as well as your eyes and ears.

What makes this edition so special is that everything is taking place on and around the courtyard, which has been renamed Manchester Plage. “We have space for 200 people, who sit at little tables. All kinds of things happen around them. We are rediscovering the place. For example, there is the area that we call “La Maison Cassée”, a ramshackle building without windows that works perfectly as a stage. Last month, (the Brussels jazz trio) Schroothoop did a livestream there.”

An improvised stage will also sprout out of the “Bamboo wood”, the place where bamboo grows in abundance. Performances will take place in the roof, like the Collectief Bâbord that is making a sculpture there, or the pole dancers from Art & Pole. The façades will be painted and even the windows will serve as stages.

On 2 July, Ignatz & De Stervende Honden will be the first to sink their teeth into the music programme with their scintillating psych blues. That same evening, Sea (Peoples) will waft a summery sea breeze across the city and ex-Recyclart sous-chef DJ Mustafa will man the turntables. A day later, Spookhuis will give what will probably be their final performance. This will be followed later in the month by, among other things, the psychedelic noise of Vrovl and the grimy pop by Pink Room. In August, Tuff Guac will throw his lasso around “cowboy garage pop”.

Recyclart is focusing more than ever on the local. “The ground under the feet of artists is unstable, we seek to ensure they have some perspectives. We have noticed that there is a lot of energy that needs to be vented, both for them, the audience, and us. We need to use it.”

2. Le Fuse prend l'air

Le Fuse crée la surprise avec Plein Air, une terrasse d’été bordant les bâtiments industriels de Tour Taxis. Au programme: de la house et de la techno entre les bars à cocktail et food trucks, mais également du hip-hop, du jazz et du reggae. Toutes les deux heures, 200 visiteurs seront accueillis.

Des curateurs invités comme C12 et Moodfamily livreront également quelques DJs. On doit l’apogée des festivités au duo du hip-hop anversois blackwave. On se réjouit aussi des sets de folie de Lola Jaro et AliA (photo).

Fuse Plein Air, Tour & Taxis, www.fuse.be/pleinair (réservation obligatoire)

3. Balkonmuziek

GC De Markten viert de herneming van culturele activiteiten met drie balkon- concerten vol muzikale kruisbestuivingen. De fusion van het Magic-Music Trio opent de reeks op 1 juli. Een week later is het de beurt aan 3’ain, waarin accordeonist Piet Maris, trompettist Yamen Martini en contrabassist Otto Kint jazz met versmelten oriëntaalse klanken. Het kamerensemble Traffik Klassik sluit de rij met muziek van Mozart en zijn tijdgenoten.

1, 8 & 15/7, 20.30, De Markten, www.demarkten.be

4. Cache-cache

‘World music in unexpected Brussels’ est le sous-titre de l’outsider des festivals d’été bruxellois. Pour sa cinquième édition, le festival Hide & Seek aura lieu dans des endroits inattendus. Soit un cimetière de Laeken, un immeuble historique à Anderlecht et la seule émaille- rie restante de Belgique, à Forest. Avec, entre autres, l’auteur-compositeur Ange Nawasadio et le guitariste flamenco et oudiste Karim Baggili, pour une exploration musicale des quatre coins du globe.

23 > 29/8, www.muziekpublique.be

5. Vauxhall and you

It is starting to look like summer at the Park of Brussels too. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday between 3 July and 23 August, the city will organize events around the stunning Vauxhall.

The Thursdays will be dominated by Fifty Summer Sessions, concerts for a limited audience. Fifty Summer Sessions lets festivals like Dour, Paradise City, and Horst pick the artists. First up is Couleur Café, which is delegating Brussels R&B prodigy Meyy (photo) and Antwerp rapper Rare Akuma.

9/7 > 20/8, Facebook: fiftysession