It’s 10 minutes before midnight on the Friday of Belgium’s Horst Arts and Music Festival, just under an hour’s drive away from the centre of Brussels, and Kuba ’97 is playing at The Soleil Rouge. The stage, named after a giant, reflective red disc that looms over the left side of the dancefloor, is packed. On the right, two huge concrete gas towers are illuminated with abstract projections, as a warbling bassline leads a plodding-tempoed kickdrum from the soundsystem. Out of seemingly nowhere, a flurry of keys lifts the dancefloor’s mood, and hands raise into the air in unison.
Moving between dusty house, old school proto-techno and subtle goa-flecked chug, interspersed with sparse moments of theatrics, it’s a change of pace and style for the Brussels-based DJ, who is usually associated with heavier, darker sonics.
“The Soleil Rouge is a very warm, more playful stage,” Kuba ’97, real name Kobe Verhoeven, explains afterwards. “People usually associate me for playing more deeper, psychedelic stuff, so the Soleil Rouge gave me an option to dive into a very different part of my collection. I went from ’80s Belgian stuff to US house from the early 2000s, so I went from very different eras but in a way that I could link them together.”
It’s a special bag of records he’s packed for a special occasion; away from his regular touring schedule, he works year-round as part of the Horst production team. Playing the evening’s closing set is something of a homecoming for him, in front of a strong contingent of Brussels scene locals, festival crew members, and dancers travelling from further afield.
“Yeah, it was pretty busy,” he says. “When I stepped into the booth it was pretty daunting to see 1,500 people in front of you, but then when I looked a bit closer, I could see all my friends, but also people from the festival, volunteers who have been helping out for a couple of weeks, so once you see all of these friendly faces around you, it gave me comfort.”
