On September 25, 2021, we heard a podcast of “VPRO 3voor12” and “NPO Radio 2”,
about the most “weird hit wonder” of the nineties: André Rieu with the Second Waltz.
“WEIRD HIT WONDER” brings an ode to strange hits on the hit list of pop music.
This podcast tells the story behind these misfits of the pop music hits.
Regretfully it is only in Dutch and too time consuming translate.
The podcast lasts 36 minutes and tells the story of André Rieu’s rise to fame (1990-95) and his
breakthrough in 1995 during the Olympic Stadium event. Some well-known media personalities who have
supported him (Henk van der Meijden (impressario), Henk-Jan Smits (producer), Jeroen van Inkel (radio
DJ)), speak here and André himself also joins the conversation. It is very funny and informative.
Click HERE to watch André’s performance in the center of the piste in the Olympic Stadium. It is on this
website under the “Golden Oldies”. In the American Harmony Parlor blog-spot you can read another
interesting article which has similarities to the podcast. Click HERE to go to the Harmony Parlor.
Episode 7: André Rieu - The Second Waltz.
The strangest hit success of the nineties is the breakthrough of an orchestra leader from Maastricht, who
ended up in the top 3 with a romantic piece by Dmitri Shostakovitch. Finally Jeroen van Inkel (Radio DJ)
receives recognition for his role in this breakthrough. And of course we tell the story of that legendary
semi-final soccer match Ajax - Bayern Munich with Rieu in the middle of the Olympic Stadium!
We see there is some confusion about the year 1994 or 1995.
The exact date of the soccer match was: April 19th, 1995.