Can somebody tell me all about these amazing, camp Dutch concerts called “De Toppers”?

25 comments

1. >It’s hilarious that the singers look like 4 overweight dads singing karaoke on a grand scale.

   Pretty much what they are. You don’t really go there for the musical skills of the performers (though they are better than most singers), but more to drunkenly sing alone with the songs.

   > Gérard Jollier

   Gerard Joling.

   >How much do these concerts cost to stage in Euros? €10, €20, €40, €50 million+?

   Genuinely no idea, but at 60k attendance and something like €50 per ticket, that’s €3 million in revenue. So that’s a ballpark figure at least.

2. A first rate ticket for the next Toppers Christmas show is 82 euros. They start at 51.

3. Well, it’s just a bunch of garbage so called “singers” People drink alot at the concert…makes it hurt less listening to it 🙂

4. That’s the first time I’ve heard someone describe Gerard Joling as having a “wonderful voice”…

5. It’s not my kind of music, but I’ve heard from people who went that’s it’s a good show with a good ambiance. If I ever get the chance to get free or cheap tickets I might go as well, because I am curious.

6. I think this is a good moment to share my favourite (OK, the only one I really know) song by De Toppers: Three Is The Magic Number, https://youtu.be/fzYmeM6I-Ss.

   I’m always impressed with Gordon’s high notes at 2:24.

7. De Toppers is a 4 man group doing yearly concerts in big stadions. These concerts often have themes that the audience will adhere to (like Pirates or Red).

   The two best known singers are Joling and Gordon, who have appeared in many tv reality shows together, sometimes as part of the runup to the concerts. Three of them represented the Netherlands at the songfestival with a song called Shine , which is the most used title of any song to make it to the finals (4 times). Gerard Joling was absent, as pointed out by /u/MarkZist, because he and Gordon were in one of their common and high profile fights. The performance, with a light in the palm of their hand as accessory, was extremely bad. Gordon has since left and is replaced by Jan Smit.

   –edited for error–

8. I once had the pleasure to go to a (different) concert near a venue where De Toppers were performing. You could tell which people were going to De Toppers, as they were all dressed in white. I had the pleasure to stand in line with them for a food truck, the middle aged women dressed in white cut in line and were all rude as hell (and probably wine drunk)

9. I don’t know much about them but one time my friend took me to their large stadium concert and, while I admit it isn’t the best music, it was probably the most fun I’ve had at a concert.

10. What a marvellous troll post

11. The acts are way less over the top, and the music is much more Dutch but if you really dig Dutch parties, give “Snollebollekes live in concert” a search. Perhaps not so much for the music, but for the experience. “Vrienden van Amstel live” and “Muziekfeest op het plein” are also fun, but mainly Dutch music and not so much of a sensory overload as the toppers or Snollebollekes.

    The costs of all these concerts? Probably not 10s of millions, but they often give more then one. 2 or 3 nights is not uncommon, so the stage and rehursing become a bit cheaper. About 50 to 120 euros for a ticket to one of these shows is what is generally paid, but sometimes tickets are sold cheaper as part of a promotion. Ordering tickets for the upcoming Christmas edition is 119 euros at the most. And they are giving 4 shows. I know they make a lot of money of it even after the preperations, the main planner doesn’t really do much else these days I think. He did recently make a song with a Dutch rapper, in which this 60 year old man sings about getting a traffic ticket and not giving a shit, kissing the hottest girl at a pary and smoking a joint. [https://youtu.be/jmmMs943x9A](https://youtu.be/jmmMs943x9A)

12. “But man you Dutch know how to party.”

    Have you seen our events like Lowlands or the Amsterdam Dance Event? Those are the bigger productions.

    Or the “bevrijdingsfestival” where there are several big (and free) events planned all over the country to celebrate the liberation from the nazis.
    They even assign an artist/band as the ambassador of freedom and they will fly with a helicopter all over the country to play at multiple locations spread all over the Netherlands.
    Basically you got several events on the same day, who all share the same headliner.

    But yeah, we do know how to party (and how to organize those parties)

13. They also have their own careers and songs, their names are Gerard Joling, Jan Smit, Rene Froger and Jeroen van der Boom, and Gerard and another openly gay dutch celebrity (Gordon hes called) have a programme called Geer and Goor, but i dont think they have english subtitles

14. When you enter a train and it’s full of dressed up and drunk people, it’s either carnaval or De Toppers are playing.

15. I don’t even like De Toppers but this is one of the most wholesome posts ever. Welcome to our interesting culture 😀

16. You are taking the piss out of us right.
    Most sane people wouldn’t want to be seen dead at a Toppers concert.

17. I used to work near the Amsterdam ArenA. Whenever it was a toppers night you’d know because the entire day you’d see middle aged, slightly overweight, white people dressed in white and glitters walk past.

18. Which is funny as Andre Rieu is also a Dutchie 😉

19. I won’t go anywhere near that even if you’d pay me.

    Living nearby, I had the displeasure of having to wade through hordes of these morons who took up the entire bike path, and [a certain song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC9jhtuscZ4) came to mind…

20. Oh my god, the Toppers. The self-proclaimed Toppers, that is. Three guys – two flamboyant gays and one straight – that started out as popular singers but over time became popular media personalities, mainly, filling up the gossip papers and gossip tv shows every week, or every day. All of them with way too big egos, so they keep getting into fights, and now this guy is leaving the Toppers, and then that guy, and then they make up (in front of the camera, of course), etcetera.

    Gerard Joling is the worst of all. He had a reality show together with Gordon, in which they were joking around, laughing, farting, and insulting everybody else. He never gets old because every cell in his body is now filled with Botox. And of course he’s a hero of the True Dutchman with his far right sympathies and racist rants that he apparently gets away with. Then Gordon – he is not as mean as Joling, but a bit dumber. Also known for racist shit, of course (you won’t believe the things he said as a judge on talent shows). I believe he is out of the Toppers, but I’m not sure.

    Musically, well if you like it, have fun. It’s just extremely mediocre. And when you already hate their guts, there’s no way you’re going to say ‘but at least the make great music’, because well, they don’t.

    ​

    Edit: I read in the other comments that there’s four guys now since the two that are always fighting made up and they kept the replacement. So four, whatever. Still shit music.

21. Thank you for posting this. I never really watched any of their concerts, as many people in The Netherlands dismiss them as terrible. Sure, the music is not great per se, but they know how to party and take you on a great round of ‘guilty pleasure’ music from the past. The Vengaboys medly is amazing, <3 Vengaboys. Now I want to visit De Toppers.

22. Gerard Joling and Gordon are, next to their singing, very common celebrities (or BNers as we like to call them) on Dutch television.

    Programs like ‘Effe geen cent te makken’ where they make ‘reality’ TV together, or X-factor where Gordon was a (controversial) judge. You might like these as well.

23. Regardless of what anymore might think of De Toppers, OP made a very, very valid observation.

    The Netherlands is one of the worlds top players when it comes to these kind of concert productions in terms of expertise/knowledge/etc. Very few people know how special this industry is for our country because we are so extremely used to high production standards, even for ‘simple’ local productions.

24. When you’re done with Toppers, gear up to Vrienden van Amstel (but skip the covid years). You might enjoy these too 🙂

25. I am sorry that so many people hate these guys, but we in the UK would see as kitsch and camp if marketed the right way. I would love to watch highlights of each year from 2012 on a Saturday night. It would cheer millions of Brits up, good family entertainment, better than endless murder mystery shows and talent shows that UK channels give us!