Line-up

Headliner
Vengaboys Last time in Ottawa: First time!

Venue

Hard Rock Café - Ottawa

73 York St, K1X1A3, Ottawa, ON, Canada

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Additional details

Doors open: 19:00

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Vengaboys biography

At times the Vengaboys come across like a cartoonish theatrical collective rather than an enterprising music group; however, pure entertainment has always been their core objective and you would be kidding yourself by downplaying this. Their zany/colorfully lit antics play just a crucial role as their pulsating dance tunes.

The group formed in the Netherlands in the early 90s and hit commercial success in 1997. While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact time of of the Vengaboys’ formation it is widely recognized that the primitive stages of the group were set in motion around 1992. The two leading creative figures behind this act, Dennis van den Driesschen and Wessel van Diepen (better known as Dj Danski and DJ Delmondo respectively), were burgeoning dance producers who got their start touring around in a bus, which made stops at various Spanish beach parties.The duo extended their musical family to include background singers/ dancers Rachel Carpenter, Olivia Ovington, and Kim Sasabone (the latter fronted the group). By 1996 they adopted the name Vengaboys and shortly after were putting out singles such as “Parada De Tettas” and “To Brazil”.

Vengaboys issued their debut studio album “Up & Down - The Party Album” in April 1998 through the label Strictly Rhythm. This release featured the three hit songs “Up and Down” (charting at No.4 on the UK Singles chart), “We Like to Party” (topping the charts in Belgium) and “To Brazil” (making it to No. 23 on the Netherlands’ Single chart). This album also did immensely well on the US market entering the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 26.

Their 2nd album “The Party Album”, which came out the following year was an even greater success. Though it reused some of their previous hits, it featured two newly constructed singles that boosted the album’s sales tremendously, such as “Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom” and “We’re Going to Ibiza”. The album went on to sweep the charts in 20 different countries claiming the No.1 spot. Provided the number of hits the group was spitting out at this time, their debut album received extensive revisitation, specifically from the US where it spent 30 weeks on the US Billboard 200 and eventually hit gold in 1999.

Robin Pors who had been added as a member in 1997 was replaced by dolphin trainer Yorick Bakker in 1999. The next year the band went on to issue their 3rd studio album, “The Platinum Album”. This album was also a major commercial success and featured five hit singles including “Shalala Lala”, “Kiss (When the Sun don’t Shine)”, “Uncle John from Jamaica”, “Cheekah Bow Bow (The Computer Song)”, and “Forever as One”. Following this release the band went through another line up change, seeing Post-Van Rijswijk and Bakker being replaced by Lynn Allien and Mark Jong a Pin. This new reconfiguration failed to click, resulting in a stunt of original material and eventually the disbandment of the group.

Vengaboys returned in 2006, but only as a touring act. Most of the venues they visited were dance halls and university student union clubs. In 2010 they released a new single entitled “Rocket to Uranus”, which featured guest spots US icon Perez Hilton and musician Pete Burns.The group continued touring in the 2010s and released several cover songs, remixes and even a Christmas album “Xmas Party Album”.

Live reviews

Few acts can lay claim to the title of novelty hit kings with quite as much conviction as Vengaboys can, certainly in terms of the nineties and early noughties; it was during that period that they troubled the business end of the charts on a consistent basis, with the likes of ‘Boom Boom Boom Boom’, ‘We’re Going to Ibiza’ and ‘We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)’ making a serious impression on the British public, leading to the former two hitting the top of the UK charts and that third track making it to a respectable number three. As infectious as the Dutch group’s sense of fun was, though, and as successful as it made them, bringing them a slew of worldwide platinum certifications, it also clearly had a shelf life, which perhaps suggests why it was that they’ve never recaptured that level of success since. After reforming in 2007, though, they continue to record and tour, collaborating with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton in 2010 and routing jaunts through some of their most successful territories, including Australia and New Zealand. They’ll support David Hasselhoff at a huge arena date in Sweden later this year, and further UK dates are likely to be scheduled sooner than later; as a blast of pop nostalgia goes, you could do far worse.

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