Singer Bouke Scholten from Emmen has won the final of The Tribute – battle of the bands on SBS6 with his interpretation of Elvis Presley. Earth, Wind and Fires with Henry Sopacua from Hoogeveen as bass player came second.
The 41-year-old Emmenaar was one of the six remaining acts in the grand finale of the popular talent show. With the Elvis Matters Band by his side, he was allowed to kick off the final with the song MyWay . The professional jury, consisting of Cesar Zuiderwijk, Angela Groothuizen and Spike, was full of praise for Bouke’s first performance of the evening.
A ten from Spike
Zuiderwijk and Groothuizen both gave a grade of 9.5. Spike went even further and said he could only give a 10. “It grabbed me by the throat,” said Spike about Bouke’s performance. “It was incredibly impressive. Everything was right. As far as I’m concerned, you blow the Ziggo Dome completely flat.”
The audience in the room was also allowed to vote and gave the performance an average of 8.6. This kept Bouke ahead of his competition.
Ziggo Dome
There was a lot at stake on Saturday evening: two of the six finalists were eliminated. The remaining four acts may perform on April 21, 22 and 23 during a full evening show in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam.
To determine who of these four can make the most minutes during those shows, the top 4 had to perform one last time on Saturday night. Even after that, Bouke continued with his number Suspicious Minds are at the top with three times a 10 from the jury. It was the very first 10 handed out by Cesar Zuiderwijk. The audience appreciated his spectacular final performance with a resounding ‘we want more’ and a 9.7.
Winner Bouke is allowed to take the stage as the main act for an hour every evening in the Ziggo Dome. The other bands from the top 4 get between 15 and 45 minutes playing time. These are Starman, U2two and also Earth, Wind and Fires with Henry Sopacua from Hoogeveen as bassist.
Bouke has won talent shows before
It is not the first time that Bouke has won a major talent show with his portrayal of Elvis Presley. In August 2009 he won the television program Waar is Elvis? of RTL, which searched for the greatest Elvis connoisseur in our country. Five years later he won – again as Elvis – the talent show The Winner Takes It All on SBS6. In 2019 he did the same in the program All Together Now.