Is it raining sunbeams and are Acda & De Munnik performing together again?

The largest pub in the Netherlands is reopening its doors tomorrow, and that is of course very good news. Even better news for me personally, because this year we are going there with the whole Amayzine team. And it is also the very first time that I am going to Vrienden Van Amstel Live. You understand: I am so looking forward to this. Because singing along, if I may say so myself, is one of my greatest talents and I didn't want to disappoint my surroundings in this, so I have already started preparing. I have to make sure that I know all the hits of every artist down to the last detail and can throw in a smooth adlib here and there. So let's go through the lineup. Kraantje Pappie, Maan, Duncan Laurence, Guus Meeuwis, and so on… AND AND AND Thomas Acda and Paul de Munnik. Hallelujah, I really think Acda & De Munnik are amazing, so this made me a happy panda.

Except that it is not Acda & De Munnik at all. The lineup poster clearly states ‘Paul de Munnik’ and a few lines down it says ‘Thomas Acda’. Now I am confused. Because I see these two names and think only: that's just Acda & De Munnik and that's just very good news. But why are they not together on the poster? I had to bring out my inner detective because I needed to know the details.

Now I did know that Acda & De Munnik had been no more since 2014, and that it wasn't all cookies and cream. But why actually? After so many hits and having played together so much, there must be something juicy going on that they suddenly couldn't get along. Seek and you shall find, because that juice was indeed there. I knew that Paul de Munnik was the one who officially pulled the plug, but the reason was unknown to me. Apparently, an eight-year affair of his has come to light, resulting in a love child. Logically, that didn't sit well in the De Munnik household, but his wife was willing to forgive him as long as he withdrew from the media and proposed to her. So, no CD of yours, CD of mine issues, but a happy ending.

Well, that marriage happened and Paul was indeed no longer spotted in the media. His website sadly states: ‘No shows booked at the moment’. In 2018, he did release a solo album, which I only just found out about because I searched for it on Google, but I don't think it was really a hit. But to be honest: I don't expect that Paul will sing one of his solo songs on stage in Ahoy? Personally, I have little desire for that, I just want to sing along loudly with ‘Niet of nooit geweest’. Sorry if you are a huge fan of Paul's solo work, but I bet that about 99% of the whole Ahoy would rather see the duo perform again.

In 2016, they also performed together on this stage and performed together. ‘This is a one-time thing’ they said then, but I choose not to believe that. ‘Who knows, we might stand there together again someday, but not as a duo’ was also said then, but I refuse to listen to that. How did they appear on the poster in 2016? Yes, indeed as a duo. I will keep hoping. Thomas Acda and Paul de Munnik at the same event but NOT performing together? Cannot. Be. True.

Photo credits: De Vrienden van Amstel LIVE/ Tribe Company.