In September, AB will have been around for 40 years and we celebrate that in style. Prepare yourself for a festive season with an anniversary programme that will have you drooling! Artistic Director Kurt Overbergh introduces the entire programme.
Kick-off weekend
To open the fortieth concert season, we plan a festive weekend with various Belgian labels at the helm: On Saturday we celebrate together with the outstanding DEEWEE (2ManyDjs) and Stroom (Nosedrip), who will take control of the Main Hall and AB Club respectively. True to tradition, on Sunday this will be followed by Global Street Sounds – where this year the Brussels label 'Rebel Up!' will present a number of artists.
You can find all the information about the kick-off weekend here.
AB40 Church Concerts
‘Holy shit, Jezus is hip again!‘ De Morgen recently headlined, after the American premiere of Kanye West’s gospel project Sunday Service at the Coachella Arts & Music Festival. Various church communities adroitly responded and opened their doors to welcome the new Messiah. So it’s time for AB to embrace the spirit of the times and put together a series of church concerts. We will occupy the Beguinage Church again and also have a concert in the famous Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula (near Central Station) for the first time. In turn, Les Brigittines becomes a regular location for a series of concerts under the flag of Church Of Sound (the new London hot spot that brings jazz to churches).
A summary of the Church Concerts:
- Wednesday 25 September 2019: Echo Collective plays Jóhann Jóhannsson’s ’12 Conversations With Thilo Heinzmann’ + Martin Kohlstedt (solo)
- Wednesday 6 November 2019: Church Of Sound feat. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble + Pharoah Sanders Songbook
- Monday 16 December 2019: Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares - A Christmas Mystery
AB40 Curated By
In September, AB will have been around for 40 years and we celebrate that in style, while the entire programming team takes a break. Come again? Over the course of the entire celebratory season, AB will regularly hand over the programming keys to various (inter)national curators with a long-standing connection to AB.
A summary of the curated concerts:
Sunday 13 October 2019: AB40 curated by Lefto
Thursday 7 and Friday 8 November 2019: FiftyFifty Lab – Smart Curation Festival
Thursday 12 December 2019: AB40 curated by Whispering Sons
Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 May 2020: AB40 curated by Mark Lanegan
AB40 Art & Music
Velvet Underground will always be linked to Andy Warhol. The work of Banksy has already adorned a Blur album cover. The work of Michael Borremans was on ‘Vantage Point’ by dEUS and Stuff. asked Rinus Van de Velde to decorate their debut. In this same spirit, as a part of AB40, AB has paired up three international contemporary artists with three renowned musical artists.
Monday 14 October: The World of Bruegel in Black and White - Book of air VOLLK x Phleghm
Monday 25 November: Die Antwoord x Roger Ballen
Belpop Bonanza
AB looks back over its own history! We do so with a unique theatre production and according to a well-proven formula. Who better than Belpop Bonanza – Belpop experts Jan Delvaux and Jimmy Dewit – to fully express their love of Belgian pop music in words and actions? You can look forward to generous doses of anecdotes, sound fragments and little-known AB trivia from our rich 40-year history.
Sunday 2 February 2020: Belpop Bonanza #1000 – A dive into 40 years of AB history
