The Ancienne Belgique (French for Old Belgium) (AB) is a concert hall for contemporary music in Brussels, Belgium. Located in the historic heart of Brussels, it is one of the leading concert venues in Belgium, hosting a wide variety of international and local acts. Some 300,000 people attend a concert at the “AB” every year.
The venue consists of three concert halls: the “Main Hall”, the “ABBox”, and the “ABClub”. The Main Hall is, logically, the Ancienne Belgique’s main hall, and has a capacity of 2,000 people. It is said to be one of the best concert halls in Belgium, with perfect acoustics. The ABBox is the latest addition to the Ancienne Belgique. It is the same space as the Main Hall, but rearranged for greater intimacy: the seats in the back and the balconies at the sides of the hall are covered, limiting its capacity to 800 people. The ABBox is the Ancienne Belgique’s response to the need for a smaller concert hall to host less well-known acts, helping them gain a new and larger audience. The ABClub has a capacity of approximately 250 people, and hosts smaller, up-and-coming acts.
In January 1955, Jacques Brel supported the performances of the Belgian pop and variety pioneer Bobbejaan Schoepen for one week.
Suicide performed at the Ancienne Belgique on 16 June 1978. The crowd was hostile, wanting to hear the main act (Elvis Costello), and the members of Suicide antagonised the audience further during the performance. The recorded performance, on which many confrontational exchanges can be heard, was eventually released as 23 Minutes in Brussels.
In 1982, The Cure played a concert which ended in a fight between band-members on stage. The band split up right after this gig, yet reformed months later.
Circa 1986, Ancienne Belgique hosted a popular club night with DJ “Fat” Ronny Harmsen whose distinctive DJ-ing style, dubbed “AB” music after the club’s initials, laid the groundwork for the emergence of the New Beat genre.
The Domino festival, which was held annually from 1999 to 2011, hosted some underground artists that later broke into the mainstream.
AJR performed here on 11 October 2022 on their tour supporting their album “OK Orchestra“.
