From professional musicians to amateurs and from young to old. Anyone with any musical feeling and who wants to play in a real band can join De Grootste Band van Nederland (DGBVN). Today, this event was organized for the third time at the ice rink in Haarlem-Noord. And it turned out to be another big music festival.
The big man behind this event is the Haarlemmer Alain Timmers. He came up with this musical idea through a video on YouTube.
“I once saw a video of the Rockin’ 1000 from Italy. They wanted to bring The Foo Fighters to Italy and therefore played the song Learn to Fly by the American rock band with a thousand musicians. When I saw that, I thought: we can do that too. ”
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After an edition in 2016 on the Grote Markt and a year later in the Waarderpolder, it was quiet around DGBVN for a while. mead financial shortcomings and two corona years, the event has been canceled in recent years.
Ukraine
A serious note was also played during De Grootste Band Van Nederland 2022. For example, money was collected by the Haarlem4Ukraine foundation for a hospital in Ukraine.
“That hospital is now using an old bathtub to disinfect medical equipment. With this campaign we want to collect money for a device that can disinfect medical equipment. That is a very concrete goal and hopefully we will raise enough”, says Timmers.
Last time Timmers
The third edition of DGBVN was held in the middle of the ice rink in Haarlem-Noord. There were about four hundred musicians. Despite another successful edition, this was the last time that Timmers was involved with the organization.
“I’ve said before, after previous editions, that I would stop and I’m saying that again,” he responds with a laugh. “But this is really the last time. I’m too busy with other things.”
A successor has not yet been found. “People can take over that way,” Timmers continues. “All scripts are ready and I will support you too. But really: this was definitely my last time.”