Gruppo Sportivo

On 10 April 2026 Gruppo Sportivo will perform at Poppodium P60 in Amstelveen. The The Hague-based band, centered around singer-songwriter and guitarist Hans Vandenburg, formed in the mid-1970s and has since moved between pop and new wave. Short, direct songs, memorable melodies and multi-voiced call-and-response between Vandenburg and the female vocalists form the core of their sound. At the end of the 1970s they broke through with “10 Mistakes” and “Back to ’78”, followed by albums such as Copy Copy and Pop! Goes the Brain, which also reveal light ska and retro influences.

After an intensive first phase their activity diminished, but from the 2010s the group began returning to the stage and the studio more regularly. With Great (2018) they continued along that line without abandoning their original pop–new wave DNA. Live, Gruppo Sportivo draws from their entire catalogue: early favourites alongside more recent material, in a set where pop, rock, new wave and a touch of ska come together. On the stage in Amstelveen, then, is a band with a long track record and a repertoire familiar to generations of listeners.