These are the highlights from 17 years of Big with a Soft G

Never before has a Dutch artist given so many stadium concerts as Guus Meeuwis. More than seventy times he was in the Philips Stadium for more than two million visitors. Groots met een Soft G became one of the longest running concert series in the Benelux. But after next year, Groots will stop. An overview of the concert series over the years.

In 2006 Guus started with his very first time Groots with a Soft G in the Philips Stadium. “It was a childhood dream come true. I am incredibly proud of it and feel more than honored. Big is going to be gigantic,” he said in 2014. At the time, he did not know exactly what the strength of the concert series is. “But I think for most visitors it’s about the total package. It’s a big party every time and I feel like we’re all building that party together.”

2008: Joy after European Championship victory
In 2008, Guus stopped one of his concerts for a football match between Orange and France. A day that the singer would never forget, because The Netherlands won 4-1. “After ninety minutes of football, we came back on stage in injury time and put the drummer in just as the last goal was scored. That was crazy,” said Meeuwis.

2012: Lifelong free to Groots
With the announcement of a new Groots with a soft G series in 2012, the magical limit of 1 million visitors was also approaching. He gave the millionth visitor a golden ticket, which allowed him to attend his concerts for life.

2012: Golden Earring guest act
That same year, the iconic rock band Golden Earring also came by for a guest appearance. Although the Dutch national team did not make it through the group stage at the European Championship, Meeuwis could still proudly look back on the seventh edition of his concert series. Fellow townsman Gers Pardoel also came along.

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2013: Groots goes international!
In 2013, Groots Overzee took place for the first time, on Kokomo Beach in Curaçao. A year later, Guus chose to stay a little closer to home and held the spin-off on Texel. Those concert tickets sold out faster than the Rolling Stones at Pinkpop.

2014: Monster victory of Orange against Spain
35,000 visitors watched the Netherlands-Spain World Cup match in 2014 in the Philips Stadium. The Dutch won the game 5-1 with flying colours, and Meeuwis took the podium immediately after the final whistle. It created a euphoric moment that the visitors will not soon forget.

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2016: Big with a soft G in winter
After an international edition, there was also a Grand winter edition in 2016. In that year Guus also said that after ten years he was thinking about stopping his concert series. But then he finally decided to continue.

2016: Wave-off moment Olympians
During one of the Groots concerts in 2016, there was a farewell moment for the Olympic athletes. All athletes came on stage, where a full stadium waved them off together with Guus to go to Rio.

2018: Doris (11) sings on stage with Guus
It is perhaps the dream of every Guus Meeuwis fan: to sing a duet with the singer. During one of the shows in 2018, 11-year-old Doris from Eindhoven sat on her father’s shoulders and held up a note that read: ‘Guus, can I sing with you?’. And that did not go unnoticed. She was invited to come on stage and together they sang the party hit ‘t Dondert en ‘t lightningt’.

2019: Superfan visits Groots more than 50 times
In 2019, the magical limit of two million visitors was reached. One of the visitors who has been there thirteen years in a row is superfan Joyce Jansen. She is at the concert for the 55th time that year. “It never gets boring, because every time something happens that makes such a show very different,” she said at the time.

READ ALSO: Guus Meeuwis stops Groots with a Soft G concerts

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