Theatre, music, cabaret… heart-warming venues to bring you comfort in Brussels

20 October 2022

café théâtre spectacle petite salle intimiste Bruxelles

While the days are getting chillier, we start to long for cosy, intimate places that we can share with a small group of friends. Places where you can enjoy local culture and get a feel of the neighbourhood spirit. With their velvet benches and subdued lighting, small clubs, café-theatres and cabarets are an excellent remedy for the autumn gloom. These are our top picks for a pleasant evening among friends, in a comfy setting near the artists on stage.

Bruxelles sur scènes, the festival of the café-théâtres

Throughout the month of November, Bruxelles sur scènes celebrates local culture by promoting pocket theatres, street corner cabarets and small venues with authentic charm. From stand-up to jazz concerts, magic, humour and improvisation, about fifteen venues offer a wide variety of entertainment in all the quarters of the capital. The Bruxelles sur scenes festival offers you a wonderful opportunity to forget about life for a while and meet the people who work behind the scenes to create the "Brusseleir" soul and multicultural identity of Brussels.

More information

Musical venues

Immerse yourself in a jazzy atmosphere, discover budding talents and the songs of tomorrow and enjoy a musical experience in an incomparable atmosphere... these small stages have many assets. Sometimes you even tend to believe that the artists are performing just for you!

Sounds Jazz Club

The Sounds Jazz Club has been a major player in the history of jazz in Brussels. After a break, two non-profit organisations are taking over the reins. With no less than 160 concerts per year, the Matongé-based venue will feature the diversity of the Belgian and international jazz scene, including jam sessions and residencies. Expect high-quality organic food and drinks in a welcoming atmosphere in this venue dedicated to jazz and its discovery.

Sounds Jazz Club

Crix Café

Les Ateliers Claus

Exists since 2006, initially it was as an artistic studio and working place, today it developed into an exciting stage for up and coming musicians. There's room for Belgian and international artists as long as they're exciting, experimental, adventurous and unique. Between art and rock'n'roll!

Les Ateliers Claus

Le Baixu

Art Base

Art Base, located just opposite the Comic Strip Museum, is a multipurpose artistic space where you can enjoy interesting exhibitions, dance and poetry performances, and excellent world music concerts.

Art Base

Werkplaats Walter

Werkplaats Walter is a work and performance place for experimental and avant-garde art and music in Brussels. Walter is an initiative by musician Teun Verbruggen. In a promising building, Werkplaats Walter invites Brussels and international visual artists and musicians in, offering workshops and rehearsal spaces, as well as possible residency and a concert hall. Walter unites artists driven by experiment and improvisation. Walter nestles in the very heart of Cureghem (Anderlecht), a densely-populated neighborhood, a stone’s throw away from Brussels’ city center and in the middle of the rapidly developing canal district.

Werkplaats Walter

UN PEU

La Ferme Rose

Beautifully renovated, yet retaining the charm of its ancestor, the Ferme Rose hosts cultural activities such as concerts (classical, jazz...), exhibitions and conferences. It is evidence of Brussels' rural past, with its origins dating back to the 13th century, and is a unique treasure of our cultural heritage.

La Ferme Rose

Bars & breweries

Whether you prefer to sip a cocktail while listening to live music, enjoy a stand-up show in a festive setting or witness a jam session in a brewery… these bars in Brussels serve a lot of culture!

KFK Hope

Brasserie ILLEGAAL

Chaff

Alternatif bar in the heart of les Marolles. Tasty dishes, lots of games, exhibitions, concerts parties,… they have it all. And once it gets sunny you can enjoy the café's terrace.

Chaff

Chez Mon Ex

La Machine

This popular bar in the Saint-Géry area, with a steampunk-inspired decor, serves no fewer than 59 beers, 70 cocktails, and 60 selected spirits. It also lays on great rock, jazz, and soul concerts.

La Machine

L’Eau chaude – Het warm water

Café Bizon

In this rustic and smoky establishment, spread over two floors and with an unbeatable atmosphere, litres of Bison vodka and gin are downed. On Monday there is traditionally a blues jam session on the programme from 9.30 p.m.

Café Bizon

Brasserie de la Mule

K.NO.P

The Crazy Circle

The Crazy Circle is a tiny cosy bar located in Ixelles that was taken over in 2019 by Laïla and Axelle, a lesbian couple, with the purpose of transforming it into a lesbian, feminist bar open to the LGBTQI+ community and their allies. The Crazy Circle is a safe space that embraces diversity and a place of expression for women and queer artists. It’s a bar where you can have a beer or a delicious cocktail at a reasonable price and a place where you can have fun: concerts, DJ sets, karaoke, cabaret, comedy shows, board games, table football, etc. The Crazy Circle co-organises many events with LGBTQI+ associations (Rainbowhouse, L-Tour, EGOW, Activ'elles, MATCH, ...) and is the creator of the weekly "Femme Jam" event, the only jam in Brussels with a 100% women's scene.

The Crazy Circle

Theatres, cabarets and multidisciplinary venues

Alternative programming, theatre and literary cafés, cabarets hidden in cellars or indie stages nestled in an old factory... each location owes its particular character to the passionate team that works there.

Chez Maman

Open since 3 December 1994, “Chez Maman” has become the drag cabaret par excellence in Brussels. Every weekend, Maman and her girls would perform on this mythical stage. When we talk about stage, we mean bar, because at “Chez Maman”, the bar of the main room is the stage. It’s true when they say that size doesn’t matter! Thanks to this tiny marble bar, hundreds of people can come and enjoy the magical experiences that happen at Chez Maman. Many things have changed since, Maman is no longer there, but Sugar Love has taken over. Every Friday and every Saturday, she puts on her make-up and high heels and there she is, alongside her fabulous girls, performing all night long in front of many admirers. So what are you waiting for? Take a walk on the wild side. Get in and brace yourself for a fabulous drag show and an unforgettable night in one of the most famous gay bars in Brussels.

Chez Maman

Cabaret Mademoiselle

The recently opened Cabaret Mademoiselle, is a multidisciplinary venue at the crossroads between the burlesque, the 1930s, a circus and freak show, featuring glamourous drag-queens and stand-up comedians who will guarantee a fun night. You will find an assortment of mainly Belgian beverages: Belgian beers on tap, as well a fine selection of Brussels microbreweries, Belgian wines and spirits distilled in our region.

Cabaret Mademoiselle

Petit Théâtre Mercelis

Specialised in theater, dance and music for young audience (toddlers, childrens and teens), the Mercelis is located in the heart of Ixelles. It welcomes audiences and artists in residence throughout the season.

Petit Théâtre Mercelis

L'Os à Moelle

Opened in spring 1960, ‘l’Os à Moelle’ is the oldest cabaret in Brussels. This cellar with its indefinable charm, located under Jacques Brel’s Birth House, has always been keen to open its doors to artists of all horizons. Singers, actors, comedians; many have stepped onto the cabaret stage!

L'Os à Moelle

Théâtre de La Flûte Enchantée

Initially located rue Haute, this very cozy café-theater has found its place in the university district of the ULB in Ixelles. Theater programming happily multiplies the registers. You can also discover concerts and open stages for music and stand-up lovers! The shows are in French, except some concerts.

Théâtre de La Flûte Enchantée

Medex (Musée éphémère de l'exil)

La Clarencière

Maison Poème

Le Boson

Unfortunately the program is in French only

Le Boson

Théâtre de la Vie

Magic Land Théâtre

The Magic Land Théâtre was born out of a collective dream in the 1970s. It now has its active, around fifty creations, several international tours and participation regular at most major Belgian cultural events. His multiple expériences artistic works carried out on so many fronts have allowed him to forge a style so particular, far removed off the beaten track of classical theater. If we had to classify the "Magic land" in a category " popular theater "is undoubtedly the adjective which would suit best even if Patrick Chaboud its founder prefers to speak of a theater of exchanges, meetings, surprises, debates, emotions and forcing anger sometimes too. At the Magic land theater, the scenic barriers conventional have long since been abolished in order to build bridges between genders, heater, dance, music, circus, humor. The Magic Land Theater is ultimately, above all, a living theater, a theater in perpetual "reinvention" to better ward off ideas black.

Theatres & concert halls

Magic Land Théâtre

GC Pianofabriek

GC Elzenhof

GC Ten Weyngaert

La Tricoterie - Link factory

La Tricoterie is above all a civil, cultural, sustainable and innovative project. Their cultural programme featuring performances, shows, exhibitions and so on goes hand in hand with a “civil” programme of debates, conferences, inter-generational workshops, philosophical café etc ... The place can be rented for events and there are plenty of really great parties!

La Tricoterie - Link factory

Full Circle

Our beautifully designed clubhouse is home to a series of versatile spaces that form the perfect backdrop to your offsite meetings ranging from creative brainstorming sessions to board meetings, general assemblies, workshops and even job interviews. Our customers love our stylish, airy and light meeting rooms specially designed to help them be as productive as possible. Their advantages: -All rooms have natural light and high ceilings ensuring a serene and productive experience -Nestled between Avenue Louise and Place Flagey -Attention to detail and fabulous food

Conference & Exhibition Centres

Full Circle

Humour & improvisation

Stand up, improvisation, stunning sketches and amazing artists... humour is brought on stage at the Brussels' theatres and comedy clubs!

Kings of Comedy Club

Modelled on the comedy clubs of New York, the Kings of Comedy Club (KOCC) is the new hotspot for comedians and comedy fans in Brussels. A stage, more than 70 seats, a bar and a kitchen make up this extraordinary venue that's like no other. The comedians come on stage and face an audience that has come to enjoy an evening of humour and good-natured fun. A cosy atmosphere, a red brick wall, a wall of fame... the KOCC is a little slice of America in the heart of the Ixelles cemetery neighbourhood.

Kings of Comedy Club

Théâtre l’Improviste

Comedy Ket

English Comedy Brussels

Since 2012 English Comedy Brussels is the town’s #1 for English speaking stand-up comedy as well as being one of the best clubs in Europe. The English Comedy Nights take place every other Tuesday at The Black Sheep, just next to place Flagey. There you'll discover some of the finest acts of the British and International comedy circuit, many of them having performed in shows such as Live At The Apollo or the Russell Howard's Good News. All of them are regulars at the Edimburgh Fringe and other prestigious international festivals. The setting of the English Comedy Nights is in the typical comedy club style, with an international audience and a friendly atmosphere. In addition to the best humour, you will also be able to enjoy the bar's excellent cuisine and a wide variety of beers and gin & tonics. Our events are a must in Brussels, we have the best acts, the best staff, and the best crowd, YOU!