The doors of Royal Theater Carré open. A chilly December wind pushes an excited stream of people inside. There is an expectant atmosphere in the foyer. There is laughter, soft whispers. The bell sounds, the performance is about to start. Elatedly, ladies in elegant dresses and carefully styled hair, side by side with gentlemen in sharp suits and shiny shoes, shuffle to their seats.
The bell could announce a grand opera, or a stately play. But this is a different kind of spectacle: pop artist Ronnie Flex is on the program. Three evenings of Carré, all three evenings sold out in three minutes. Dress code: gala. Ronnell Plasschaert (32), alias Ronnie Flex, will play a special live version of his album tonight Remi from 2017. In his own words, it is his best album. There are television cameras everywhere to pay tribute to this Remi to capture.
Tonight his band The Fam, led by virtuoso guitarist Ramon Ginton, takes the album to another level. The decor is tasteful but sober, the band stands in a U-shape around Ronnie, theater lights light up the background in pastel colors. Above the shelves hangs a kind of large Akari lamp, a large sphere that reflects the visual light arts. Ronnie is dressed very stylishly, in a well-fitting double breasted tuxedo and dark sunglasses. Jules Deelder meets Ray Charles. Or better yet, Ronnie Flex meets its final form. His dream.
During the first song, ‘Arms of an Angel’, there is some uneasy movement up and down in the red velvet chairs. But already with ‘Spook’, the second song, the whole of Carré is dancing and singing along. It turns out that it is not difficult to dance in a place like this. “This is the most damn beautiful room ever,” sighs a nervous Ronnie, as he looks around the room in admiration. “This music shit is my life, I’ve been doing this since I was thirteen. This is one of the most beautiful evenings of my life,” he says, visibly emotional. “Damn, I’m so happy!”
The audience is audibly excited to be there, Carré is shaking to his foundations all evening. Especially when superstars Jonna Fraser, Frenna and Lil Kleine appear as guest artists, playing their hits from the album – ‘Your Season’, ‘Energy’ and ‘Follow Me’ respectively.
But unfortunately for those men, the decibel meter hits the loudest when Ronnie’s best friend comes on, whom he knows from the pop academy in Rotterdam. Tabitha plays the desperately romantic ‘Is this over’, and lashes out, and again, and again. She climbs, climbs and climbs, until the room explodes in deafening cheers.
Then they do the sensitive ‘Save me’ together, after which Ronnie sits down for a moment. The suit is now off, his white shirt open to the last button. Whether we don’t want to applaud for a moment, but just let him talk. The room becomes dark, the spotlight focuses on the little boy from Capelle. Then he expresses his gratitude, his love for music and audiences, for his band and family, for his Surinamese-Moluccan roots, for his colleagues. The deafening applause comes anyway.
Then he starts the last song ‘Jij/Me’ and rasps out like a full-fledged chansonnier. Not perfect, but straight from the heart. A little giggle, as if he doesn’t believe he’s just doing it. But he does it, and that genuine honesty makes him the ultimate crowd favorite. That gives him his own style, his authenticity. Ronnie is just Ronnie. And with that you can effortlessly sell out Carré.