What's on this week: 15 October
Jamaican reggae veterans, French celebrity DJs and jenever festivals: our pick of events across Flanders and Brussels
Festival: Vrijheidsfestival
Genres span across media from film to music to theatre but all share a spirit of political engagement. The eponymous vrijheid doesn’t refer simply to artistic freedom but also liberty in the existential sense, the freedom to live, work and speak as one wants. Speaking of free, the festival closes with a complimentary concert by Jamaican reggae veteran Winston McAnuff and his accordionist sidekick Fixi (pictured).
Until 25 October at Théâtre National and KVS, Brussels
www.festivaldeslibertes.be
Fair: Accessible Art Fair
The sumptuous halls of the Cercle de Lorraine are the setting for this year’s edition of the Accessible Art Fair. As the name suggests, this isn’t the usual, insiders-only schmooze-fest. AAF’s main goal is to bring art to the people. And organisers are doing it with the help of some friends: 50 artists, designers and galleries are on board, putting not just their work but their expertise at the disposal of visitors, many of whom are browsing the arts market for the first time. The fair’s Art Advisory team will even come to your home or office for a custom consultation.
16-19 October at Cercle de Lorraine, Brussels
www.accessibleartfair.com
Food&Drink: Jeneverfeesten
Hasselt’s Jenever Festival celebrates its silver anniversary. Over the past quarter-century this autumn festival has grown into one of the city’s best-loved events, probably because it celebrates the locals’ best-loved spirit. The juniper berry-based jenever is a staple across Flanders, and Hasselt is the traditional centre of its distillation. So the entire city mobilizes for this annual weekender. Like Jesus who turned water into wine, Hasselt’s Borrelmanneke fountain will pour forth delicious jenever for all to drink. But the festival involves more than drinking. There’s also street theatre, concerts, exhibitions, kids’ activities and culinary workshops.
18-19 October across Hasselt
www.jeneverfeesten.be
Concert: David Guetta
Bad music is an occupational hazard knowingly assumed by the arts critic and as such must be borne with a certain amount of philosophy, even good humour. The French celebrity DJ David Guetta is banal and aggressively corporatized but will not be ignored for all that. His latest single is so cheesy that not even the appearance of genius American actor Ray Liotta in the track’s Spaghetti Western-inspired video could save the enterprise. Yet concert promoters loudly advertise that they hope to cram 17,000 people into Brussels’ Paleis 12 for Guetta’s performance. And why not? At least it’s a sure-fire party.
18 October, 20.00 at Paleis 12, Brussels
www.paleis12.be
More events that deserve your attention
Musical Box: Genesis cover band performs Selling England by the Pound (fifth studio album from the English progressive rock band), with close attention to detail, from costumes to special effects.
16 October 20.00, Koninklijk Circus, Onderrichtstraat 81, Brussels
www.cirque-royal.org
Marble Sounds: Rising Flemish band, acclaimed for their “post-rock with a mournful edge, dreamy nostalgia and wistful lullabies” (De Morgen).
16 October 20.00, Het Depot, Martelarenplein 12, Leuven
www.hetdepot.be
Doubt, A Parable: The American Theatre Company performs the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play by John Patrick Shanley and staged by Christopher Flores, an intense drama set in the Bronx in 1964, a time of great scandal in the Catholic Church (in English).
21-25 October 20.00, Théâtre de la Toison d'Or, Guldenvliesgalerij 396, Brussels
www.atcbrussels.com
English Comedy Night: Canadian stand-up and acclaimed actor Phil Nichol headlines, preceded by Swedish comedian Emma Wessleus (both in English).
21 October 20.00-22.00, The Black Sheep, Boondaalse Steenweg 8 , Brussels
www.englishcomedybrussels.com
30 jaar Ghanezen in Gent (30 Years of Ghanaians in Ghent): Storytelling evening around Ghent’s Ghanaian community, featuring a dance performance, lecture on the history of Ghanaian immigration to Flanders, presentation of the website and life stories staged by local Ghanaians.
17 October 20.00, Trefpunt Concertzaal, Bij Sint-Jacobs 18, Ghent
www.ghanezeningent.be
Spiegels van de Ziel (Mirrors of the Soul): Third edition of the festival dedicated to the International Fight Against Poverty, featuring concerts by Helmut Lotti and Den Ambrassband, among others, performances by actor and rapper Jeroen Perceval and writer Erik Vlaminck, film screenings and more (ages 18 and up).
16-19 October, Tutti Fratelli, Lange Gasthuisstraat 26, Antwerp
www.tuttifratelli.be
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