Les Halles de Schaerbeek: bringing back music at the front of the legendary venue.
Words by Koen Galle (excerpt from ListenFestival.com)
Pictures by Jente Waerzeggers
“Björk dares. No drums, guitar or bass can be detected on the stage of the sold-out Halles de Schaerbeek.” With these words, journalist Gunter Joye captured the essence of the enigmatic Icelandic artist’s performance back in 1997 in national newspaper Het Belang van Limburg. Nearly a decade later, in 2006, his colleague Philippe Manche wrote in Le Soir: “It was the rock event of the year’s end. Sonic Youth, alternative rock's finest, took over Les Halles de Schaerbeek.” And back in 1988, also in Le Soir, Thierry Coljon covered Fela Kuti’s legendary appearance in the same venue.
The list goes on—Cypress Hill, Arcade Fire, Nitzer Ebb, Chris & Cosey, Philip Glass, Moby, Patti Smith... Yet somehow, Les Halles de Schaerbeek doesn’t always spring to mind among Brussels’ iconic live music spaces. It’s always been an outlier, and it still is today. But thanks to the efforts of the current team, music is reclaiming its place at the heart of the venue. And we, at Listen Festival, are more than happy to contribute—by programming the legendary British duo Leftfield in the hall’s grand room on Friday 07.11. Another surprise event at Les Halles will be unveiled in September, and trust us this will be a big one..
Time for a conversation with Artistic Director Matthieu Goeury and Anouk Grimaud, who, as assistant to the Technical Director, also oversees safety at the venue.
Hi Matthieu, first off, we’d love to hear your take on what Les Halles de Schaerbeek stands for.
Matthieu: First of all, it's a historical project. It’s been around for over 50 years now. It started as a squatted space, literally occupied by a group of hippies. The key figures were Jo Dekmine and Philippe Grombeer, well-known personalities in the 1970s, deeply rooted in the pacifist, anti-nuclear activist movement. They were involved in launching several cultural venues across Brussels.
This particular building was being used as a storage facility and parking lot by the municipality of Schaerbeek. But they saw its potential and said, ‘This place is incredible, it needs to be reopened.’ It was in very poor condition, and for a long time they ran small, self-funded events here and there. Eventually, it was bought and renovated in the 1990s, and slowly started receiving public subsidies.
It’s only since January 1st, 2024, that we’ve been officially recognized as a centre scénique—a 'Kunstencentrum' in Dutch—by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. That means stable, indexed funding under the arts decree. Finally, some proper stability after decades of development.
After all these years, what's the unique identity of the venue?
Matthieu: There was definitely a long struggle here between the team and policymakers, let’s say, to maintain a certain independence, to stay a bit on the fringe. That’s part of the Halles’ identity: it’s a space that remains politically engaged. We’re not a theatre, we’re not a concert hall, we try to carve out a unique profile.
We’ve kicked off a new chapter over the past two seasons. It’s still very early days, but one of the major shifts is the return of music, a presence that had been missing for nearly 15 or even 20 years. And this place has hosted some major gigs in the past.
Music is now one of our three main disciplines, alongside dance and circus. We also host what we like to call the 'minor arts': stand-up comedy, a bit of cabaret, smaller side projects. And we also throw parties, which, to me, are absolutely part of our music programming. Even if it’s labeled a party, it’s still a music-driven project, because DJs are artists too.
