Over the past few years, Belgian singer-songwriter and actress Pommelien Thijs has taken over the charts, not only in her home country but also in the Netherlands. Hits like ‘Erop of Eronder’ and ‘Atlas’ have garnered millions of streams. It’s not strange, therefore, that the 25-year-old managed to sell out Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome in no time. On the 7th of November, it was finally time for this show, which her fans had been looking forward to for months. Said fans had been waiting in the cold outside for hours, entertaining themselves by speculating about what the “Wachten op…” ads spray-painted on the floor meant and by participating in a Pommelien Thijs karaoke session.
At 7 o’clock, the doors to the venue opened, with support act Bazart taking to the stage only an hour later. The venue was already pretty full as the Belgian indie pop band, which consists of lead singer Mathieu Terryn, guitarist Simon Nuytten, and synthesizer Oliver Symons, opened their set with the very fitting ‘Nacht in Amsterdam’. “Good evening, Ziggo Dome,” Terryn shouted as he motioned for the crowd to clap along to the beat. Throughout their set, it was visible they had quite a few fans in the audience. Terryn pointed this out himself during ‘Denk maar niet aan morgen’ as he directed his attention to several groups of people who were enthusiastically singing, dancing and jumping to their upbeat songs. Ending on ‘Goud’, Bazart had definitely warmed up the crowd for the main act of the night.
The change-over was a short one, with the introduction to Pommelien Thijs’ set starting not even twenty minutes after Bazart had left the stage. “Heb je ooit gedacht over ons bestaan?” a voice-over sounded out over the speakers as the words appeared on the screen behind the stage, which translates to “Have you ever thought about our existence?”. Videos of Thijs herself appeared on the screen as the voice-over talked about quantum physics and the universe, about politics and about family. “What are we waiting for?” the voice-over asked in Dutch as the crowd’s shouts began to grow louder. As soon as the video was over, Pommelien Thijs rose up from below the stage to join her band members and open the show with ‘IK MOET GAAN’. This was followed by fan favourite ‘Entertainment’, for which Thijs was also joined by an assembly of dancers who’d be participating in several songs across the evening. She then made use of the catwalk for the first time tonight as she performed her newest single ‘Onomatopee’. Pommelien Thijs loves playing with language, as she’d state later on in the show as well, and as is evident from this newest track. An onomatopoeia is a type of word that phonetically imitates that which it refers to. Thijs is not only an amazing songwriter, but she’s also a very intelligent woman who manages to teach her listeners new concepts.
While the first few songs had been very upbeat, there was also room on tonight’s setlist for softer, more emotional songs. The first of those was ‘Meisjes van Honing’, which Thijs performed on the main stage while the audience lit up the entire Ziggo Dome with their flashlights. At the end of the catwalk, Thijs and her guitarist Cedric Siegers then performed ‘Het beste moet nog komen’. In between these songs, Thijs talked about how, back in 2024, she played her first-ever club tour in the Netherlands. A mere two years later, she’s standing in one of the country’s biggest venues. However, she loves the intimacy club shows provide, which she attempted to replicate on that small circular stage in the middle of the crowd. It was then time for the first outfit change of the night. While Thijs’ first outfit had been white, she returned for ‘Oog voor een oog’ wearing a black leather two-piece. Another fan favourite, ‘Tegenwoordige tijd’ followed. This song has a heavy political message, which was strengthened by videos of corrupt world leaders and protests against their regimes playing on the screens. A beautiful moment where the entire crowd came together to shout out the lyrics and make it truly evident how they feel about the state of the world.
What made this huge show even cooler were the special guests Thijs had invited to join her on stage. First up was Dutch singer MEAU, who joined Thijs for their collaboration ‘Het Midden’ and for the song ‘Wie we morgen zijn’. The latter also featured dancers, with one of them being lifted by the others and spectacularly caught when she let herself drop backwards. The acrobatics of the dancers would continue throughout the show, as they’d later be doing flips and cartwheels on the catwalk. Later on in the show, Thijs would also be joined by her sister Kaat Thijs for ‘Kleine tornado’ and by Bazart’s Mathieu Terryn for ‘Hou mij vast’. Other elements that truly highlighted the work that had gone into this show were the pyrotechnics used during rock anthems ‘Authentiek’ and ‘Dunne lijn’, and the walkway that led up to a set of stairs on stage that could apparently be lifted up into the air. After ‘Wat een idee?!’, Thijs took the time to talk about all the people behind the scenes that made all that possible. She stated that while working on such a show, there are hundreds of questions asked to be able to make it work. Pommelien Thijs herself, fortunately, knows the answer to at least one question: “Wil ik je zijn of wil ik je doen?” This is how she introduced the queer anthem ‘Doen of Zijn’.
Another outfit change was due, with Thijs reappearing at the end of the catwalk with her guitarist and bassist wearing a black bodysuit with a hood attached. She performed an acoustic version of the unreleased track ‘Gaat het Goed?’ before inviting another special guest. This special guest wouldn’t be singing, but instead, he’d be allowed to dedicate the next song to someone. Dutch singer Claude had made it to the side of the stage to dedicate ‘Koning Minimaliseren’ to his friend and celebrity Monica Geuze, who he was jokingly angry at for spoiling Gossip Girl. “To Monica, fuck you, from Claude” appeared on the screen at the end of the track as confetti hearts rained down from the ceiling. This proved that there was also room for some banter, and the audience really seemed to love this moment. It was soon time to get back to serious business, however, as Pommelien Thijs climbed up a red ladder towards a platform where she’d perform the beautiful song ‘Bel me als je thuis bent’ and the angry, feminist anthem ‘Cassandra’. The latter was, of course, inspired by Greek mythology, which is a big interest of Thijs’.
Back on the main stage, it was time for the final few songs of the night. Thijs did a barricade walk for ‘Medeplichtig’ and pointed out the pride flags in the audience during ‘Ongewoon’, a song she wrote about the first time she experienced feelings for another woman. Tonight’s encore consisted of arguably Thijs’ biggest hits. First up was ‘Ben je klaar?’, a unique track that starts off as a regular upbeat pop track but transforms into a club rave when the drop hits. It would then be time for ‘Atlas’, but instead, the words “Waar wachten we op?” appeared on the screen again. And what was the audience waiting for? Wachten op Gedoe, the deluxe version of Thijs’ second album, which will be released on December 4th and will include a total of six (!) new tracks. Of course, the audience was extra excited during the last song now that they knew even more music from their favourite artist will be making it onto streaming platforms in less than a month’s time. Confetti rained down for the final time tonight as Pommelien Thijs, her band, her special guests MEAU, Mathieu and Kaat, and her dancers took their bows. The full show lasted over two hours and was simply insane to witness. With only two albums under her belt so far, Pommelien Thijs has already made history, and will surely continue to do so.
