What started as an attempt by René Froger to bring his quarreling colleaguesGordon and Gerard Joling back together, grew into an occasional formation thatwill give its fiftieth ArenA concert this weekend. But are De Toppers still aspopular as they were in 2005?
In the early years of De Toppers, Froger, Joling and Gordon sometimes playedsix times a year in a full ArenA. This year three concerts are planned fromFriday to Sunday. Sunday’s show has been completely bought up by the PostcodeLottery. There are no tickets for sale for that concert, you can only winthem.
The occasional formation, which nowadays consists of ‘Oppertopper’ Froger,Joling, Jeroen van der Boom and Jan Smit, has already sold all tickets forSaturday’s show. But tickets are still available for Friday’s show. Places inthe second rank have been sold for only a tenner in recent weeks via Holidayauctions. A fourth concert, for which Jumbo customers could save for a secondfree ticket, was canceled because the promotion was not running.
Is this a sign that the popularity of De Toppers has declined in recent years?Froger and Van der Boom think not. “There may be some cards here and therewith less visibility, for example, but it will just be full,” Froger assuresNU.nl.
“And if it ends up being 66,000 people instead of 67,000, that’s still a lot,”adds Van der Boom. “That’s why it’s strange that people ask so often whetherit’s not even enough. If you suddenly stop doing it, you step over the partyof thousands and thousands of people.”
Toppers originated during a concert by Froger
Since their first concert series in 2005, De Toppers have not skipped a singleyear, except for the past two editions due to the corona pandemic. Froger, whois the only member who has not missed a single edition, will celebrate hisfiftieth ArenA concert with De Toppers on Sunday.
The 62-year-old singer could not have dreamed that in 2004, when he invitedthe bickering ruffs Joling and Gordon to perform with him during his ownconcert series in the ArenA. That went so well that they started De Toppersand planned a concert in Carré. Due to the high demand for tickets, that showwas moved to the Johan Cruijff ArenA.
Despite Froger’s glue attempt, disagreements between Joling and Gordoncontinued to predominate. In the run-up to their participation in theEurovision Song Contest in 2009, Joling decided to leave the group. He wasreplaced by Van der Boom. When Gordon left the band in 2011, Joling returned.Later Smit also joined the company.
‘De Toppers will still exist in twenty years’
The group has endured various conflicts and entertained countless Dutch peoplewith their concerts over the years. Anyone who thinks that Froger sees afiftieth concert as a good time to put an end to it, will be disappointed.
“I want to put an end to that typical Dutch question of how long we willcontinue,” says Froger. “I see De Toppers still exist in twenty years’ time.As long as the public likes it and we enjoy it, we are not going to stop.”
Froger thinks that De Toppers’ concept is timeless and that it can survivewithout him in the future. “When it comes time to pass the baton, I will.”