What began as an attempt by René Froger to reunite his bickering colleagues Gordon and Gerard Joling, has turned into a one-time lineup that will play its 50th concert at the ArenA this weekend. But are De Toppers still as popular as they were in 2005?
In De Toppers’ early years, Froger, Joling and Gordon sometimes played a whole Arena six times a year. This year there are three concerts from Friday to Sunday. Sunday’s show was completely bought out by the postcode lottery. There are no tickets for sale for that concert, you can only win them.
The casual lineup, which today consists of “Oppertopper” Froger, Joling, Jeroen van der Boom and Jan Smit, has already sold out all tickets for Saturday’s show. But tickets are still available for Friday’s show. The second-place seats have sold for just ten pounds in recent weeks at Christmas auctions. A fourth concert, for which Jumbo customers could save up for a second free ticket, was canceled because the promotion was not running.
Is this a sign that De Toppers’ popularity has declined in recent years? Froger and Van der Boom think not. “There might be some cards here and there with less visibility, for example, but it will just be full,” Froger assures NU.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 weird that people ask so often if it’s not even enough. If you suddenly stop doing that, you override the party of thousands and thousands of people.”
Toppers was born during a Froger concert
Since their first concert series in 2005, De Toppers have not missed a single year, with the exception of the last two editions due to the corona pandemic. Froger, who is the only member who has not missed a single edition, will celebrate his 50th ArenA concert with De Toppers on Sunday.
The 62-year-old singer couldn’t have dreamed of it in 2004, when he invited bickering rufflers Joling and Gordon to perform with him at his ArenA concert series. It went so well that they started De Toppers and scheduled a concert at Carré. Due to high ticket demand, that show was moved to the Johan Cruijff ArenA.
Despite Froger’s glue attempt, disagreements between Joling and Gordon continued to prevail. Ahead of their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009, Joling decided to leave the group. He has been replaced by Van der Boom. When Gordon left the band in 2011, Joling returned. Smit later also joined the company.
‘De Toppers will still exist in twenty years’
The group has endured various conflicts and have entertained countless Dutch people with their concerts over the years. Anyone who thinks Froger sees a 50th concert as a good time to put an end to that will be disappointed.
“I want to put an end to the typically Dutch question of how long we’re going to continue,” Froger says. “I see that De Toppers is still around twenty years from now. As long as the public likes it and we enjoy it, we won’t stop.”
Froger thinks De Toppers’ concept is timeless and could survive without him in the future. “When the time comes to pass the baton, I will.”
The cycle of concerts on 18, 19 and 20 November has as its theme Happy together. In this edition, the Toppers are assisted by guest artists Mart Hoogkamer, Donnie, Emma Heesters and Rolf Sanchez.
