Over the past few years, the entirety of the Netherlands has fallen in love with Congolese-born singer Claude Kiambe, known mononymously as Claude. The singer released his first single ‘Ladada (Mon Dernier Mot)’ in 2022, which became an immediate hit. Since then, he has released his debut album Parler Français and represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel. On the 20th of July, Claude performed a special concert with the legendary Metropole Orchestra in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
The stunning venue was completely sold out for the second and final night of these special concerts. The audience was filled with a wide array of people, from young kids to the elderly. A few minutes before the concert was due to start, the orchestra and backing vocalists took to the stage. When the conductor joined them, the audience loudly applauded before the music started. Mere minutes later, Claude himself took to the stage, dressed in a red velvet suit with sparkly rhinestones adorning his shoulders. He opened his set with ‘Écoutez-moi’, the crowd excitedly clapping along. “I hope that you and I together will turn this into an amazing afternoon,” the singer stated afterwards. He continued with ‘Allez! Touché!’. What made this and other live renditions of Claude’s music extra special, besides the lovely instrumentals of the orchestra, were the light effects that lit up the entire hall.
Two songs in, Claude took off his sparkly jacket to reveal his pristine white blouse and red velvet vest. He talked about how much his life had changed over the past two to three years, then moved into ‘Je T’aime’. Dutch singer Zoë Tauran joined him halfway through, walking towards the stage all the way from the back of the audience, which made for a lovely surprise. After she had left again, Claude said how “little Claude could have never dreamed of this” and talked about some of the amazing things he has gotten to participate in, one of those being the TV program Beste Zangers. He continued with a song he’d covered on this show, his own French-Dutch version of Hero’s ‘Toen ik je zag’, followed by his very own ‘La pression’. Before the show, fans had passed out small, green hearts that the audience could hold up in front of their flashlights during this song, and this gesture visibly moved the singer.
Next up was one of Claude’s favourite songs from his debut album, which also happens to be his mom’s favourite. His mother was actually in the audience, and right as the first notes of ‘Lelo Toko Bina’ started playing, she got up to dance. The rest of the people in attendance quickly joined her as Claude himself went down to the audience to be a part of it all. He walked back up the stairs right after to sing ‘Mooi’, a cover of Marco Borsato, together with Matthijn Buwalda. The song, according to Buwalda, talks about the concept of ‘levenskunst’: the art of living. “I think you are a ‘levenskunstenaar’,” Buwalda told Claude, “you have a story and you carry it with you”. As if this on its own wasn’t enough to make people sob, Claude continued with another cover he did on Beste Zangers, ‘Ne me quitte pas’. He sang this without his backing vocalists; it was just Claude’s soothing voice and the strings that filled the room.
The backing vocalists came back right after to perform a cover of Stromae’s ‘Formidable’ with Claude, followed by his own song ‘Layla’. Claude asked the audience to get up and dance and keep doing so as he also performed ‘Encore Une Fois’. As the show was slowly nearing its end, the singer performed the first song he ever recorded in a studio, ‘Vas-y (Ga Maar)’. Before the song’s final chorus, Claude gave a speech about the awful things going on in the world right now, which are forcing people to leave their loved ones behind. At the same time, Claude noticed his friends that he had met while living in an asylum center, after he and his family fled Congo. Also in the audience was the teacher who taught him the Dutch language during this period. Without him, Claude might not have been on this stage this afternoon. For the final chorus, Claude asked the audience to hold up their flashlights for everyone in the world who might need it right now, letting those in need know that the people in Het Concertgebouw are thinking of them.
After this emotional moment that left quite some people in tears, Claude and the orchestra played the more upbeat ‘Parler Français’ and ‘Ladada (Mon Dernier Mot)’ before the singer left the stage for the encore. When he came back down the stairs, a small kid gave him a piece of artwork they had made, and Claude high-fived them along with several other fans. For the ‘final’ song, Claude played his Eurovision song ‘C’est la Vie’. He invited a girl up on stage to dance the choreography with him, and ended the song by running down into the crowd while continuing to sing and dance. Although the show could have ended there, Claude decided to play one last song. Though he had already gone through his entire debut album, he returned to ‘Lelo Toko Bina’, this time with his mother and sisters joining him on stage. It was the perfect ending to a truly special concert.
Written by: Mandy Huibregtsen
Edited by: Shanna Henselmans
