New friends

We just made it in time. The parking lot at Ahoy is already full. Not so strange since it's completely sold out and you're just barely on time, as always. Quick bathroom break and a drink, then heading to field South. Anouk on the left. Two crackers, just the way I want it. And hey, there's Jeroen van Koningsbrugge, with Anouk. They're singing ‘A Little Bit in Love’. It's started, my first time Friends of Amstel Live.

We decide to walk a bit further. A little pushing, a little shoving. Sorry, no problem. A few drops of beer fall on my arm, but hey, here comes Thomas Acda on stage, so what do I care.

I look next to me at two slightly older girls. They both have two beers in their hands, making it awkward to take selfies. They do it anyway, with a careful kiss on the lips. My Amayzine girls tap me on the shoulder. Who ‘that gentleman’ on stage is. That's Huub van der Lubbe from De Dijk, girls. And tomorrow I'm going to give you extra lessons because this man made sentences so beautiful that you want to wrap a cover around them.

When I let loose at Lil Kleine and André Hazes Jr., a guy stands right in front of me. Like, exactly in front of me. Normally I wouldn't mind that much, if it weren't for the fact that he's two meters tall. So I tap him. “Buddy, everyone over 1.68 can move to the right.” He looks at me. He doesn't get it. I see his eyes. Sweet eyes. Different eyes. And his parents dancing a bit further away. In love like they used to be. His mother sees us and gives me a look I know so well. Come on, it's okay. He's a bit different. When Marco Borsato comes on and sings ‘The Truth’, I see him completely absorbed in his screen. Everything is being filmed by him.

I get a Strepsil from Lil in my hands. And a miniature perfume. We could use that because it hasn't just stayed at those few drops of beer. We keep singing. A bit rougher than with Anouk, but it's going. ‘Saying Goodbye Doesn't Exist’ is now on the program. I look at the group in front of me. She with her bun on her All Stars, he with his stubble, a slightly older man and a woman in a red sweater. They form a little circle, heads very close together. Like rugby players at the start of a match but then full of love. They keep holding each other. ‘I come like the wind you feel, and the rain. She wipes along her cheek. Follow what you do when the moonlight shines. The woman in the red sweater kisses the boy with the stubble. Find me in everything, then you'll encounter me. We no longer exist. Only Marco, the music, and they with four. Whisper my name, I'm coming.

If the roof was already loose, it's coming off now. Lil Kleine, André Hazes, Sunnery James, and Ryan Marciano. Guus Meeuwis says we should jump and we listen to that. The guy in the pink T-shirt asks if I want a beer. Maan stands like a dancing foal on stage and hands out beers. A pub is being built on stage and everyone is there. Thomas Acda, Xander, Guus, Marco, Glennis Grace... Has Anouk already gone to her children? We sing ‘Malle Babbe’, ‘Blood, Sweat, and Tears’, ‘Get all the hell’. The older girls next to us are now really almost kissing. I think about how this evening will later be marked in their lives as the night where everything began. About how they will tell their parents about it later. They let go of each other again. I'm sure it will only be for a very short moment.

André Hazes Jr. is celebrating his birthday. That must be celebrated, with a roof-blowing dance version from Sunnery and Ryan. But also with his own rendition of ‘She Believes in Me’. There he is. Little boy on a big stage, golden chain around his neck. ‘What must it be like for him,’ Annabelle asks me, ‘always surrounded by your sadness.’

I would wait, he sings. Until the time when everyone recognizes me. And you can be proud of your own guy.

That old Hazes, André points up, he remains known.

No matter how steaming Ahoy is, we all have goosebumps for a moment.