Brussels (Brussels Morning) – Famed Brussels nightclub faces noise complaints but remains resilient, hosting iconic electronic music acts like Daft Punk and Aphex Twin.
For three decades, the Brussels nightclub Fuse has been a popular spot for electro-techno music lovers in Europe. Famous artists like Daft Punk and Aphex Twin have performed there.
However, those thumps are increasingly the origin of tensions with neighbours who desire more restful nights. It is a tussle — between young cultural exuberance and city-centre upscaling, a clash of ages and lifestyles — seen in numerous of the world’s capitals. It hinges heavily on Fuse as it honours its three decades of existence. Throughout this year, the nightspot is emphasizing its cultural position by bringing out a memorial book and a vinyl collection by top artists. It is also establishing a global club tour of 10 municipalities that is to include Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona and London, all beneath the banner “30 years of making noise.”
The celebration is supported by big-name sponsors — international soft drink labels and Belgian beer brewers — and Brussels city politicians who carry Fuse up as a world-class “monument.”
Yet some locals in Fuse’s Marolles district — a once working-class neighbourhood gone hipster — would be delighted to see all that as a crescendo before an absolute fade to silence. “It’s tougher and more difficult for clubs to exist in city centres,” stated DJ Pierre.
“If you get rid of them, you end up with a city hub that is dead, which no one wants,” he stated.
The club’s administration has lashed out at noise objections being made that threaten “the elder techno club in Belgium.”
Fuse was compelled to close for three weeks in January last year after objections from one neighbour prompted management to swoop in with noise restrictions. “It breaks my heart,” DJ Charlotte de Witte, stated of the order.
Since then, there have been “two recent complaints from neighbours,” stated the club’s artistic director, Steven Van Belle, who counted that the problem was not going away. “It’s still a hot topic, but the management is working on more protections for us,” he stated. Last year’s January closure started a spectacular backlash connecting artists, nightclub-goers and politicians.
Several months later, in July, “clubbing” culture was counted to the list of intangible heritage for the Brussels territory— alongside beer and Belgium’s fritkot stands that vend French fries. The symbolic move was an unaffected consequence of Fuse’s dilemma. Closing Fuse would have “imperilled all nightlife” in Brussels, expressed an aide to the official, Ans Persoons, in charge of the city’s heritage. With the listing, “the neighbours also have to adjust to what is considered part of the heritage.”
The classification — which is separate from the internationally determined UNESCO heritage list — involves “at least 100 places” in the Brussels region, according to the nightlife federation that lobbied for it. Twenty Belgian nightclubs, late-hour bars, show venues and open-air dance festivals round out the list.
To counteract their activity — which often spurs the local economising in the areas they are located in — against living norms other residents are entitled to, Brussels provincial authorities have drawn up new urban practices to be followed. They cover planning credentials and sound isolation requirements, as well as responsibilities for the venue’s users — and direct neighbours.
Van Belle stated he was awaiting formalization of those regulations, to see them become law once they are voted on by the regional parliament.
