Expatica news

ArenA concert to say goodbye to Andre Hazes

24 September 2004

AMSTERDAM — Andre Hazes will lie in state on Monday in Amsterdam’s ArenA stadium where thousands of fans will attend a special concert to say goodbye to the much-loved Dutch crooner.

Amsterdammer Hazes, 53, died on Thursday morning after the second of two heart attacks. He had been admitted to hospital in Woerden on Wednesday suffering from a high fever and pneumonia. He was diabetic and battled with alcoholism for several years.

The director of Hazes’ record company EMI, Niel van Hoff, and the director of concert promoter Mojo, John Mulder, said the singer had passionately wished to appear in the ArenA one more time.

Hazes had two sell-out concerts in the ArenA last year to celebrate his silver jubilee. A third concert set for December 2003 was cancelled as he was having “relationship problems”.  Earlier this year he told the audience during a concert in the Ahoy in Rotterdam that he loved his wife Rachel as much as ever.

His body will lie in state in the ArenA on Monday evening so his fans can say their goodbyes. His wife and other family members will also be present, it was confirmed on Friday.

Rachel has consented to the plan and the “farewell concert” will start at 6pm. The exact nature of the show is not yet known, but Rene Froger, Blof, Guus Meeuwis and probably Frans Bauer will perform Hazes songs.

By 8.30am on Friday, some 37,000 people had left messages on internet condolence registers andrehazesfan.nl, condoleanceregister.com or condoleance.nl. Dutch newspapers were filled with articles about the singer, news agency ANP reported.

Almost a full broadsheet page was filled in newspaper De Telegraaf with death notices for him. Rachel and their children also posted a death notice in the newspaper.

A documentary about Hazes, “Zij gelooft in mij” (She believes in me), was repeated by broadcaster NPS and attracted an audience of 900,000 on Thursday night.

The RTL 4 talk show Barend en Van Dorp, which was entirely devoted to Hazes, was watched by 1.1 million people, Dutch public news service NOS reported.

And a total of 1.6 million people watched a repeat on Nederland 1 on Thursday night of the meet-the-celebrity show Villa Felderhof with Hazes.

Hazes was one of the Netherlands most popular singers, loved for his crooning and tear-jerker, sentimental songs.  SMS text messaging traffic doubled after the announcement of his death at about midday on Thursday. Telecoms firm KPN said mobile telephone calls increased 10 percent, news agency Novum reported.

Advertising campaigns featuring Andre Hazes were cancelled upon the death of the singer. Hazes had been featured in ads for biscuit maker Verkade and the Music Store.

Hazes will be cremated after a private ceremony on Tuesday.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news, Andre Hazes, Dutch music