THE LADY THAT CHANGED THE BRUSSELS NIGHTLIFE SCENE

      

If you ever find yourself walking around in Brussels at 6 in the morning and you hear a heavenly underground sound coming out of an abandonned supermarket, don’t worry; it’s just a Catclub party.

All the way back in 2002 Jane Haesen, a belgian creative better known as Lady Jane, didn’t quite find her ‘thing’ in the Brussels’ nightlife scene. Instead of trying to fit in with the then mostly commercial crowd she decided to create her own party and gave birth to a concept that is now a well-known phenomenon in Brussels, Catclub.

Catclub started out as a gathering of friends in appartments and now grew out to a huge concept welcoming around a thousand of partygoers with every edition. The atmosphere is very unique: at Catclub you will find yourself surounded by life-loving, laidback and mostly creative people. The party is known for being a pioneer who invites emerging and up-and-coming artists before they get booked in bigger mainstream clubs. 

Over the past thirteen they managed to put various international talents such as Nicolas Jaar on their line-ups, who later became quite popular. Mix these talents with their resident DJ’s such as Fais Le Beau (or if you’re lucky Lady jane herself crawls behind the decks) and you’ve got one hell of a party. Not only the amazing music but also the fact that Catclub has no ‘fixed’ adress and travels from venue to venue makes it (one of) the best parties in Brussels. One weekend you find yourself dancing on a boat, a month later you’re smoking a cigarette to deep house music in what used to be the fruit and vegetable isle of a huge supermarket. Whatever occasion, wherever Catclub goes, they keep amazing. 

Because the idea of organising a party at the same location every time is quite boring, with every edition Catclub tries to bring something never seen before. By inviting several artists to take care of their venue decoration, they manage to WOW their public with every new concept. Going from a big pyramid to house the toilets, to huge walls made of cardboard boxes luminated by red neon lights to separate the dance floor from the chill-out zone, the creativity of the Catclub team knows no limits. It is therefor no surprise that the party is a gathering of mostly creative souls going from the age of 18 far up to the age of 55. Whatever your age, sexual orientation, job or skin color, as long as you've got an open mind and a love for a mix of deep house, minimal and new wave music you're more than welcome at Catclub.

You could say without a doubt that by hosting the first ever Catclub party in a friends appartment back in 2002, our Lady Jane saved Brussels’ nightlife scene. Imagine you had to dance to commercial music of the "Put your fucking hands up" Dan!eL ft. KBK every weekend, now that's a depressing thought right? Before going to bed tonight, let’s all thank god for giving us Lady Jane, the woman who created a home for crazy cats of all breeds; Catclub. 

To end this piece in an appropriate way, here’s a throwback to one of those rare moments Lady Jane herself made us dance the night away at the night of June 23 back in 2012.

First picture by Lara Gasparotto, all other pictures by Roman Hayat.