Singer Bouke Scholten is one step closer to his long-cherished performance in the Amsterdam Ziggo Dome. On Saturday evening, the 41-year-old Emmenaar won the semi-final of The Tribute – Battle of the Bands, the talent show on SBS6.
He sang with The Elvis Matters Band Suspicious Minds one of Elvis’ biggest hits from 1969, and again he delivered a near perfect Elvis Presley.
As in recent weeks, he received praise from the professional jury, consisting of Cesar Zuiderwijk, Angela Groothuizen and Spike. They rated Bouke’s performance with a 9.0, a 9.5 and an 8.0 respectively. The public jury gave him an 8.7.
“Really, one star is born ”, Angela Groothuizen responded. “Ridiculously good, this is what people want to see in the Ziggo Dome.”
Bouke – no stranger to television land and Elvisland
Elvis Presley runs like a thread through Bouke’s career. In August 2009, when he still sang and recorded Dutch songs, he won the television program Where’s Elvis? of RTL, which searched for the greatest Elvis connoisseur in our country. Five years later he won – again as Elvis – the talent show at SBS6 The Winner Takes It All . In 2019 he did the same in the program All Together Now .
In the meantime, he was also a welcome guest at Graceland, Presley’s estate in Memphis, at events around The King Of Rock And Roll. He did this for the first time in August 2012 during the Elvis Memorial Tour. Five years later he performed there on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Presley’s death. During that visit he also recorded songs at the Sun Studio in Memphis, where Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins also recorded alongside Elvis. The songs ended up on the album Bouke At Sun .
Henry Sopacua from Hoogeveen also to the final
There was more success from Drenthe on Saturday evening, because Henry Sopacua from Hoogeveen is also in the final as bass player of Earth, Wind and Fires. The band received an 8.5 from all three judges.
Three times in the Ziggo Dome
In addition to Bouke and Earth, Wind and Fires, Starman, U2two, The Neil Diamond Project and Nina Turner have also qualified for the final show that will be broadcast next Saturday (February 11).
The four best bands from the final will play on April 21, 22 and 23 during a full evening show in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam.