“Black Out,” the closing live chapter from Belgium’s Front 242, reached listeners on 19 June 2026 via Alfa Matrix. The set was captured at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels in January 2025, the venue that also hosted the tour’s last concert, and it documents a farewell tour that took the band through more than forty dates in Europe and the USA over half a year.
“Black Out” is available now on the Alfa Matrix store as a 2CD digipak with 23 tracks and as a 2LP vinyl edition, while the digital edition can be streamed and bought on Bandcamp.
Who played, who mixed, and where it ended
Tim Kroker plays alongside the trio of Patrick Codenys, Jean-Luc De Meyer and Richard 23, and the studio side, mixing and production, was entrusted to David Baboulis (Soldout). The final show, on 25 January 2025, was back at Ancienne Belgique and ended the group’s live career. A launch party with AD:keY on the bill follows in Berlin on 26 June 2026, as covered in our event report.
Editions and sold-out bundles
Buyers can pick between a download, a 2CD digipak holding 23 tracks, and a 2LP pressed on crystal clear vinyl. The 2CD also contains three exclusive bonus tracks: “MasterHit,” “Soul Manager” and “No Shuffle.”
The special editions released alongside them have all sold out:
- A limited clear purple 2LP fanpack, restricted to 1,000 copies worldwide and gone within days, with a tote bag, an armband, two glass coasters, a 20x30cm art print and the label compilations “Sounds From The Matrix 026 & 027”.
- The Core Selected Pack, which bundled the 2CD, the purple fanpack and the tribute 2CD “Recovery 2 For You”.
- The Total Access Pack, the same bundle plus the crystal clear 2LP.
A newer Essential Pack, pairing the double vinyl with a selection of extras, remains on sale.
About Front 242
The catalogue opens with the 1981 single “Body to Body.” A deal with Wax Trax! in Chicago, in place by 1984, gave the group its first U.S. release, “Take One,” and later titles include “Geography” (1982), “No Comment” (1984), “Official Version” (1987), “Front by Front” (1988), “Tyranny >For You<” (1991) and, in 1993, “06:21:03:11 Up Evil” alongside “05:22:09:12 Off.”
Behind those records stands a Belgian act formed in Aarschot in 1981 by Daniel Bressanutti and Dirk Bergen. Patrick Codenys and Jean-Luc De Meyer were on board by 1982, and Richard Jonckheere, known as Richard 23, came in 1983. Tim Kroker has been the live drummer since the four core members regrouped in 1997 after a hiatus.
“Pulse” followed in 2003. Meanwhile Alfa Matrix had been issuing the band’s side projects, and it later turned to vinyl reissues and anniversary editions. The “Black Out” farewell run brought the live career to a close.