Tribute bands are filling venues. At De Kroepoekfabriek in Vlaardingen, Belgian band Petty's Heartbreakers played the music of Tom Petty to a sold-out room. The same night, tribute shows for The Beatles and Kate Bush ran elsewhere in the Netherlands.
Nostalgia and affordable tickets
The audience is mostly over 55. "It's our youth", says visitor Kees Nieuwstraten (71). He has seen tributes to The Doors, The Eagles, Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd. The standard is often high. Price matters too: a ticket cost 17.50 euro, a fraction of what global acts charge.
TV show *The Tribute: Battle of the Bands* has boosted the trend. Since 2022 it regularly draws more than a million viewers. Its finalists play four nights at a packed Ziggo Dome.
A necessity for venues
Berend Schans, director of the Dutch association of music venues and festivals, sees a genre emerging. Even the Concertgebouw now programmes Fleetwood Mac music. Part of the reason is financial: 71 percent of music venues expect to close 2025 at a loss. Costs rise, subsidies do not.
Not everyone is happy. Bands such as Voltage and DeWolff argue tribute shows crowd out acts with original material.
A mix of known and new
De Kroepoekfabriek programmes tribute bands deliberately. Director Bart van Dorp: "Our motto is: from the attic room via De Kroepoekfabriek to Lowlands." One big night with a full room and strong bar revenue funds an open stage for local rappers.
For programmers the lesson is simple: a strong tribute act fills the room and pays for the risk you take elsewhere.
Looking for a tribute act for your event? Browse the full Tributeworld roster.