Fuse is a club in the

Marollen The ( French, ) or ( Dutch, ) is a popular historic neighbourhood of downtown Brussels, Belgium. It is situated between the Palace of Justice to its south-east, the Church of Our Lady of the Chapel to its north and the Halle Gate to its so ...

district of

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. It opened in 1994 and has a capacity of approximately 1,500 people.

Location

The location initially housed a neighborhood cinema that changed its name several times: Cinema Blaes (1925–1933), Cinema Iris (1934–1940) and finally Cinema R.A.F. (1947–71). Later, Le Disque Rouge opened here, a club popular with the Spanish community in Brussels. Thierry Coppens and Peter Decuypere took over this club and turned it into Fuse in 1994.

DJs and notable acts

Coppens had organized the gay party La Demence since 1989, which has taken place in Fuse ever since. Together with Decuypere, he saw a good future for

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

, and together, they brought Fuse to prominence among international techno clubs. It has been named the best club in Belgium, and its resident DJ Pierre (not to be confused with

DJ Pierre Nathaniel Pierre Jones, better known by his stage name DJ Pierre, is an American DJ and performer of house music based in Chicago. Musical career Phuture Jones has recorded Audio Clash, Darkman, Disco Fuhrer, DJ Pierre, DJ Pierre's Afro Acid P ...

) was named the best Belgian resident DJ by the Belgian entertainment magazine Nightcode. Acts such as

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

and

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

have played at Fuse throughout the years. Decuypere left Fuse in 1997 to focus on his I Love Techno event in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

. At the end of 2007, Coppens handed Fuse management over to his friends Nick Ramoudt and Dominique Martens to focus entirely on La Demence. At the beginning of 2020, Steven Van Belle and Andy Walravens took over the club's management.

Recognition

Fuse was on

DJ Magazine ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...

's list of the 100 best clubs in the world between 2008 and 2014, placing highest in 2010 at position 21. That year, the magazine said: ''"As explosive as its name suggests, Fuse has been Belgium's number one techno outpost since it opened way back in 1994 - an era when Belgian techno label R&S was revered as one of the globe's most influential and innovative record labels."''

2023 temporary closure

On January 12, 2023, Fuse decided to close its doors after the Brussels Environment Public Service ordered them to reduce the noise level to 95dB and to close at 2 a.m., following complaints from a neighbor. Fuse appealed the decision, which was accepted, and the club could open again without restrictions.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.fuse.be/ Electronic dance music venues Buildings and structures in Brussels Nightclubs in Belgium Tourist attractions in Brussels 1994 establishments in Belgium