Brad Spurgeon's Blog

Links to useful open mic guides to Liège:

None!

Brad Spurgeon’s findings on Open Mics in Liège:

Liège has a fabulously lively district called Le Carré, which is the center of nightlife and student life in the downtown of the city. It is a kind of square collection of small alleyways and streets too narrow for cars. It is full of bars and music booming out of them, and lots of live music. You might not expect that Liège would be such a lively city musically, but there is music all over, and jams sessions in bars aplenty. The problem is finding the jams, as they are constantly changing location. Le Carré is not, despite its liveliness, the part of town that necessarily has the most open mics and jams. But unfortunately, it was the place where I played in my first open mic in Liège, in 2009, at a great bar called Bouldou. I saw unfortunately, because Bouldou has now closed down. And year after year in coming to Liège, I have found the jams closing down, as there are strict noise laws in the city, and problems for owners to do enough regular business, as well. The Art Café was another great place with a regular jam, near the St. Leonard bridge, but it too closed down. Finally, the last time I was there, in 2016, I saw that Le Surlet no longer seemed to exist or have its jam. So as with many others of my guides of open mics, the pickings in Liège are for the moment both slim and a moving target. They come and go. And so I know of only one that’s left, although I did see one or two other places I have not been able to try myself, so I must just write about Blue-sphere:

Wednesday – Blue-sphere, jazz and blues jam session, Rue Surlet 37, 4020 Liège. Starts at 20:30. This is a fabulous place that feels like a New York jazz club, and the accent is on jazz and blues. A beautiful little stage in the corner with a great sound system, and a caring MC who also joins in to play harmonica. Although the emphasis is jazz and blues, they will accept songs that border on the style – I did Mad World and Wicked Game. There is a piano, drum set, and lots of guitars may be hooked up. I trombone player was there the night I played. There was a good crowd and lots of musicians. You get one or two songs, and the organizer will place you on stage with other musicians, and you may be able to play a second time if there is enough time. Nice and cool table setup, photos of musicians on the walls, etc.