2025 marks 25 years since Krezips breakout with their debut album Nothing Less, their hit single ‘I Would Stay’ and their memorable performance at Pinkpop. To celebrate this 25 year anniversary, Krezip took the stage on the 6th of December at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. We were present to capture this milestone in the Dutch pop music scene.
Opening the show was Bente Fokkens, mostly known as Bente. Earlier this year, Bente performed on the Dutch television show ‘Beste Zangers’, where she got to sing a beautiful duet with Jacqueline Govaert, lead singer for Krezip. Hence, it was a very fitting choice to have Bente as support tonight.
After performing ‘Ik heb je zo gemist’, ‘Jan van Galenstraat’ and ‘Hoe hou ik dit vast’, Bente told the audience how much it meant to her to be opening this show for Krezip. She felt a little nostalgic, as she told us about how she used to listen to Krezip their albums on her iPod Shuffle.
Even though she is a solo artist, Bente brought out her full band and put down a proper show. There were lots of cute little interactions between her and the bandmembers and it was very clear they all enjoyed themselves. Bente made sure to get her band members a loud applause when she introduced them. Alexander Klement on keys, Florian Verhagen on guitar, Joost Wesseling on drums and Aditya Sardjono on bass guitar.
She ended her set reminiscing on how much had happened this year and saying how she wanted to be able to help people with her music. She mentioned it was her desire to headline this venue someday. She expressed how grateful she was for all the people listening to her music and that she would never take it for granted. She then started singing her last song of the night ‘Kan je me zien’, her cover of ‘Believe’ from Cher. She asked the crowd to put their lights up, for someone they loved, for someone who should be here at this moment but could not.
When the intro from Friends started playing, it was obvious the show was about to begin. Then, the screen behind the stage lit up and started playing live footage from behind the scenes. The footage showed the band getting ready to enter the stage in a big group hug. This all emphasized the story of the band being a group of friends above all. They all entered the stage individually, each member of the band receiving their applause.
Right after Jacqueline entered the stage, the show really got to a start. When asked who had been with Krezip for the full 25 years, the response was very loud. During ‘Ready For More’ everyone in attendance was clapping along to the beat of the music. In the seated areas, there were some people popping up, starting to dance. Jacqueline exclaimed “Oh hell yes I’m ready for more!”
Jacqeuline decided to divide the room into two groups. She asked the right half of the crowd if they were feeling good and told them which part to sing along in the next song. They got the easy part, which was the same as what Jacqueline herself sang. Next she asked how the left half of the crowd was feeling. They seemed to be a lot louder than when she had asked the right half. Left had to harmonize and sing along with Annelies. They had created their own choir of fans and everyone participated with a great deal of enthusiasm.
Jacqueline liked to tell some stories in between songs. For example, she told the fans about a few months back, when she herself was present in this very room, somewhere on a balcony. She went to see Billie Eillish with her daughter. It seemed there were some mother and daughter duos present at this show as well, which made her happy. She dedicated the next song, ‘You Are You’, to all the mothers and daughters in the room.
She also told us how all the kids from the Krezip musicians were present, which were ten kids between the ages of 7 to 17. It meant that they all had been successfully procreating during their time with Krezip, she joked. She also mentioned it was her niece’s birthday. She had turned 14 that day. As a response, the whole crowd sang the Dutch version of ‘Happy Birthday’. Not everyone likes this much attention at their birthday, but Jacqueline assured the crowd her niece would certainly appreciate it.
It was not only 25 years ago when Krezip had their breakthrough moment, it had also been 25 years since Jacqueline first went to the rock academy. This academy was new back then, and she remembered it felt quite strange as a 17 year old, to be in the same class as a 34 year old. She had about 40 classmates, which included none other than Floor Jansen. When she giggled, she confessed she also met her now husband at this academy. Also in this very special class, there was the special guest of tonight. The one and only Danny Vera. When he entered the stage, he was greeted with a loud and welcoming applause. They sang their duet ‘Make It A Memory’ and their christmas hit ‘It All Means Nothing’.
The band gathered close together on the stage for their next song. Jacqueline on the piano and everyone close around her. The setting felt very intimate. Some old interviews were playing in the background, which created a very nostalgic atmosphere. This is when they started playing ‘Everything And More’. When Jacqueline and Annelies were escorted to the small stage in the middle of the crowd, Jacqueline could not help but mention how much the security uniforms resembled the Cool Blue uniforms. All jokes aside, she emphasized she really appreciated the good care the security took of them.
When they had found their place on the small stage, Jacqueline told the fans about some anxiety they had experienced when the band first wrote this next single. They were worried they had to play this song for the rest of their lives and were scared it would make them hate the song. This fear could not be further away from the truth. It seemed as if every time they played this song, it was even more special. When they played the first notes, fans instantly recognised ‘I Would Stay’ and a happy cheering erupted from the crowd.
When Annelies left the center stage, Jacqueline told her personal story about how she used to give too much and how she needed to take it slow. She said she got a lot of support from the band during that time and she wrote a lot of songs. Strangely, the songs she wrote during this period of time, came to her in her mother tongue. The band has their repertoire of all English songs, but to her it suddenly felt very natural to write in Dutch on her solo projects. This next song was one of those songs. It was called ‘Vrij’. When Jacqueline went back to the main stage, the band invited Bente on stage again, to perform together this time. They performed Bente her song ‘Zonder handen rijden’. It was so good to see how much fun they all had, playing together on that stage.
After performing ‘Plug It In & Turn Me On’, which got a lot of people to stand up and dance, Jacqueline announced there was something important Bram (drummer) had to tell the audience. It was no surprise Bram wanted to speak to the fans, because as far as the public knew, this show would be his last show performing with Krezip. He had announced earlier that he would be leaving the band permanently this time. He had taken a break before, to play on tour with U2. When he started talking, he stated how it can be really hard to make certain decisions, especially as a libra. He mentioned he had made some important decisions before and those decisions had made a lot of impact on the band. When he went on to talk about his most recent decision and his plans for the future, he expressed how difficult this decision had been. Both for himself, but also for the band. He was incredibly grateful for the support he had gotten from the band and he realized how much this decision weighed on the band. At that moment, he was reminded that this group of people were mostly just a group of friends who happened to also play in a band. Despite his earlier announcement, he said his plans had changed a little. He still had the same plans for his future, except the timeline had changed a bit. This meant this would not be the last show he would play with Krezip. This news was met with a loud applause. He seemed to be relieved to finally share this news and happy with his decision.
Krezip ended their show with their hit ‘Sweet Goodbyes’, which was not less than fitting to say goodbye to such a wonderful night.
