Gruppo Sportivo
Gruppo Sportivo are a Dutch pop band from The Hague, formed in 1976, who enjoyed a measure of international success in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Early 2018 a reunion was announced consisting of a tour and a new album called Great, which was released to critical acclaim in April 2018.
In 2022 the band returned with their 25+ city The Spotify Tour, in which they performed their 25 most streamed songs in reverse order.
[citation needed] The band formed in the 1970s, and rode to national popularity playing new wave music.
The band played pop songs whose lyrics contained humor, situational comedy, and inside musical jokes.
After releasing the single "Sleeping Bag" Hans Vandenburg disbanded Gruppo Sportivo at the height of their popularity.
After splitting up for a couple of years, the band returned with compilation album Back to 19 Mistakes in 1988, which was preceded by their popular Wall of Voodoo cover single "Mexican Radio".
It contained a bonus CD with outtakes, demos and other unreleased songs called Here Funny Album Title.
To mark their 35th anniversary the band recorded the acoustic album The Secret of Success (2011), featuring new versions of songs from all over their career.
The album was accompanied by an extensive theatre tour, which starred Hans Vandenburg biography writers Bindervoet and Henkes as part of the first set.
During the shows the complete album was performed, combined with other Gruppo Sportivo classics and cover songs that inspired 10 Mistakes.
It was released on green vinyl (along with the bonus download album OK iPad featuring 9 songs for kids) and is also available digitally (iTunes, Spotify, Deezer a.o.).
After very positive reviews in OOR Magazine, NRC and Parool (among others) and a short acoustic tour the album entered the Dutch Vinyl Top 50 at #8.
A year later 1989 EP Sucker Of The Century - recorded with Robert Jan Stips and others - was released on digital platforms such as Spotify and iTunes.
The Great tour, during which the whole of the new album was performed plus a selection of favourites from both audience and band, was met with critical acclaim as well.
Early August, 2018, Spotify released its official This is Gruppo Sportivo playlist, featuring 45 tracks from Ten Mistakes (1977) all the way to Great (2018) and everything in between.
On April 5, 2019, Gruppo Sportivo released "What Else Can I Do" as a single, accompanied by the band's first new music video in 13 years.
The tour included a high profile show at Parkpop Saturday Night before it wrapped up in Zoetermeer in July.
On December 18, 2020 the band released the single and video "Rudolph Het Rendier," a Dutch-language Christmas version of the 1979 The Buddy Odor Stop / Gruppo Sportivo song "Cats Hiss."
On March 8, 2023, Gruppo Sportivo released a new version of the song Strange Brew as a single to celebrate the start of their 2023 Spotify Tour Refreshed, along with Rock City's Serious Remix on the occasion of the cinema premiere of the documentary Rock City: The Life We Live.
During the Spotify Tour Refreshed 2023, the band was accompanied by Wouter Kiers on saxophone as a special guest.
Venues the band hadn't played for a long time - including 't Paard in The Hague, Paradiso in Amsterdam and Luxor Live in Arnhem - were packed.
Gruppo Sportivo started a new tour through the Netherlands and Belgium on March 2, 2024, named Let's Age On Stage.
A statement on the band's Facebook page said: After a short illness, our dear friend and keyboard player Peter 'Superman' Calicher passed away on the morning of April 1.
At first he helped with roadie tasks while getting music lessons from Peter Calicher and teaching himself to play Gruppo Sportivo songs.
AVROTROS's crew followed the band in 2023 during the Spotify Tour Refreshed and the making of Back To Nature to 'explore the past, present and unique ways of Gruppo Sportivo'.
On November 1, 2024 the band announced the 2025 Back To Nature, in which they planned to perform semi-acoustic version of songs from all over their career.
