The Netherlands: Waylon all set for Top 1000 Of All Times concerts

by Roy Knoops 413 views

Dutch artist, Eurovision 2014 participant and Eurovision 2018 representative Waylon will perform three massive concerts, honouring the best songs ever written.

The concerts Waylon Live in Concert – Top 1000 Allertijden (“Top 1000 Of All Times”) will take place today (Friday 1 December), Saturday 2 December and Sunday 3 December, in venue Ahoy, Rotterdam.

Waylon has made a selection of the songs that will be featured throughout the three performances, picked from the Dutch Top 1000 which is voted every year by listeners of Radio Veronica.

Waylon explains:

We want to approach the original of all songs as closely as possible, you don’t just do that idly. This is really a party for us. We bring the very best music with a group of musicians. It is crazy to be able to play both Toto and Phil Collins. We go from Jan Smit to Aerosmith. I will never release covers myself, but I think it’s great to take this trip once a year. It is like reconstructing the Night Watch or the Mona Lisa in detail. I try to approach the intention of the original songs.

Selecting the songs from the 1000 possibilities proved to be a challenge:

You will soon stick to the best hundred songs, but then there are nine hundred classics that deserve the same attention. It is a quarrel puzzle, a quarrel with yourself. Songs in, songs out. It is a vehement process. The Top 1000 is so long. We can give fifty concerts without repeating a song. We play 35 songs per show and that’s pretty tough.

When two Eurovision stars collab!

There will also be a Dutch-language section in the concerts, where Waylon will be vocally assisted by Jan Dulles, lead singer of the band 3JS that represented the Netherlands at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Another, very special, guest artist to grace Waylon’s side on stage is newcomer, reality star and beauty-vlogger Bibi Breijman: Waylon’s girlfriend. The two met during a musical sing-along show on TV, It Takes Two.

Waylon is very proud that he was chosen to interpret the prestigious Top 1000 Of All Times:

I think it is fantastic that there are so many positive reactions to the concerts. This gives me even more drive to show the best of myself during the upcoming concerts. Together with Radio Veronica and its Top 1000 Of All Times I may accept the role of ambassador of the best songs in the world. Not in a small café but in front of 15,000 people in Ahoy. I am a privileged man!

For information and ticket prices, please visit ahoy.nl and ticketpoint.nl.

Eurovision 2018

Meanwhile, Waylon is also busy with the preparations for his participation in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal. The singer says:

I have several songs, but we just keep on writing. There is still a lot of time. I must not put too much pressure on it. Something has to feel good, that is the most important thing. The song has to feel especially good for me. I approach it as an athlete. Only the first place counts. I’m not busy with the parties around the festival. I’m going to focus. I also think it is necessary. That’s my job. You can enjoy it afterwards.

Waylon has ample Eurovision experience, as he represented the Netherlands at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, Denmark, together with artist Ilse DeLange as The Common Linnets.

Winning Semi-Final 1, they eventually reached an honourable 2nd place in the Grand Final with their entry Calm after the storm, receiving 238 points.

Enjoy Waylon as part of The Common Linnets performing Calm after the storm at the Grand Final of Eurovision 2014: