De Vrienden van Amstel LIVE 2027 in Rotterdam: dates, times, tickets and TV

De Vrienden van Amstel LIVE 2027 is on 14 nights between Thursday 14 and Friday 29 January in Rotterdam Ahoy, every show at 20:00, and it is sold out. Tickets cost €55 to €105.75 at face value, the shows are for adults only (18+), and the line-up is not out yet: the artists are named only shortly before the series (Ahoy, Amstel, Sligro). Without a ticket, there are still three ways in: the official resale once it opens, Sligro's savings campaign for two of the nights if your business has a Sligro card, and a hotel package with a show ticket on the nights the package shop still has them. The VIP and bus packages are sold out.

Checked 24 October 2026. Not announced yet: the line-up, the 2027 stream or TV broadcast, when the official resale opens and when the 2028 sale starts.

De Vrienden van Amstel LIVE 2027: all dates at a glance

The 29th edition runs over three weeks, with no show on Tuesday 19 and Tuesday 26 January. The shows are in the Ahoy Arena, and Evenitto lists all 14 nights on one event page. Where something is not announced, the last column gives last year's date as a guide.

What is De Vrienden van Amstel LIVE?

De Vrienden van Amstel LIVE is a series of concerts that the brewer Amstel puts on in Rotterdam Ahoy in January. Amstel calls it "the biggest pub in the Netherlands" (Amstel): artists play together in combinations you won't see anywhere else, under the hall's familiar chandelier (Ahoy). Ahoy describes them as artists "van Nederlandse bodem", home-grown, so expect a night of Dutch acts rather than one international headliner. It has run since 1998; 2021 was the first year the doors stayed shut, and that edition went online instead (Amstel news).

It is big: for 2023 Amstel planned 20 concerts for about 300,000 visitors, and for 2024 it expected more than 200,000. That year the rapper Kraantje Pappie took over as host, with Nick Schilder beside him (Amstel news).

Is Vrienden van Amstel 2027 sold out? How to still get tickets

Yes: Ahoy's page for the 2027 series says "Uitverkocht!" (sold out) (Ahoy). Amstel guarantees only tickets bought through its five official channels: vriendenvanamstel.nl, Paylogic, Ticketsite, Zoover Sports & Events and the official resale platform. Tickets from TicketSwap or other sites fall outside that guarantee, and only through the official channels can you be sure you don't pay too much (Amstel FAQ).

The official resale

Ticket holders who can't go can offer their regular tickets on the official resale platform of Paylogic, the only safe way to sell them on according to Amstel (Amstel FAQ). For the 2026 shows it opened at the end of 2025; for 2027 the date has not been announced. Watch the resale link on Amstel's ticket page, which still points to the 2026 edition. Regular tickets carry the visitor's name, and a name change costs €5 per ticket.

Saving stamps at Sligro

Sligro, the wholesaler, has its own route to the nights of Sunday 24 and Monday 25 January, for its customers: you need a Sligro card, which only businesses and organisations registered with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) can get (Sligro). From Thursday 29 October to Monday 16 November its savings folder gives stamps with the offers; a full card of 35 stamps is worth two seated tickets, 40 stamps two standing tickets, while stocks last. You hand in the card at the till of a Sligro self-service store, pay €10 in admin costs per card and redeem the code by Saturday 21 November. The tickets arrive by email at least a week before the show, and Sligro says the show and the artists are the same as on the other nights (Sligro).

VIP, hotel and bus packages

Amstel also sells packages through Ticketsite and Zoover Sports & Events (ticket page). On 24 October the VIP and VIP & Backstage packages were sold out in the package shop, and so was Zoover's bus package for groups of 40 or more.

That leaves the hotel packages, which were still on sale for many of the nights: a night in the ss Rotterdam, the DoubleTree or Hotel New York, with a transfer to Ahoy and back and breakfast, for €159.95 to €199.95 per person. The show ticket is not included, but the shop can add one on nights that still have places; on 24 October it offered an arena standing ticket on Friday 15 January, for example (package shop, Amstel FAQ).

How much does a Vrienden van Amstel ticket cost?

A regular ticket costs €55 (a seat in Rang 4) to €105.75 (standing by the stage or on the arena floor), service costs included. These are the face values in Amstel's FAQ, and Ahoy's 2027 page starts at the same €55 (Amstel FAQ, Ahoy). You could buy at most 8 regular tickets per person, and groups of 20 or more could apply separately.

Standing or seated: stage, arena and the rings

Regular tickets come as seats or standing places (ticket page), and the difference matters more than at most concerts, because you can't move between the sections (Amstel FAQ):

• Podium standing puts you beside the stage, arena standing on the floor of the hall. You can't walk from one to the other.
• The arena is split into a north and a south section, and you can't cross between them either.
• There are no seats on the arena floor. If you need to sit, choose a seat in one of the rings (Rang 1 to 4).
• Wheelchair users sit on a deck, with a companion; those tickets are sold only in pairs, and the other ticket types are not suitable for wheelchairs. A rollator is allowed only with a wheelchair and companion ticket; crutches are fine.

Ahoy's venue profile describes the building itself.

What time does Vrienden van Amstel start and finish?

Every 2027 show is listed at 20:00 (Ahoy). Amstel's FAQ gives the rest of the evening, with the note that the times may still change (Amstel FAQ):

• Doors open at 18:30 for regular visitors, at 17:30 for VIP guests and at 17:00 for VIP & Backstage.
• The show runs from about 20:00 until about 23:15, so plan for roughly three hours and a quarter.
• No extra buses, trains or metros run for the event, so check your last connection home before you go.

Who performs? The 2027 line-up

The artists for 2027 have not been announced. Sligro writes that the names come out only shortly before the series (Sligro), and that is how it went before: in 2024 Amstel published the programme a week before the first show on Thursday 11 January 2024, and in 2020 it was still adding names two weeks before the start (Amstel news).

As a guide to the mix, the 2024 programme had Guus Meeuwis, Rowwen Hèze, Acda en de Munnik, Suzan & Freek, DI-RECT, Flemming, Snelle, Ronnie Flex, Duncan Laurence and Clouseau, with first appearances by Son Mieux, Zoë Tauran, Bizzey, La Fuente, Claude and Meau (Amstel news). Kraantje Pappie is part of 2027 at least backstage: the VIP & Backstage package includes a drink with him (ticket page).

Vrienden van Amstel on TV and Videoland

The 2027 broadcast has not been announced. Last year you could watch on Videoland on Friday 16 January 2026 from 19:30 (Amstel FAQ), and a compilation of the 2026 edition is still on Videoland for subscribers. In 2024 Amstel also showed the concerts in Amstel pubs around the country (Amstel news). Performances and backstage footage from earlier years are on the Vrienden van Amstel YouTube channel, linked from Amstel's look-back page.

Amstel LIVE in de kroeg: the house band in a pub near you

If Ahoy is out of reach, the house band of De Vrienden van Amstel LIVE plays in a different Amstel pub every Thursday. Doors open at 18:00 and the music runs from 20:00 to 22:00, with a break of about half an hour; a ticket costs €10 and you can buy up to 12. Sales start on the last Thursday of the month, a month ahead: Amstel's own example is the end of January for March (Amstel LIVE, Amstel FAQ). These are the dates on Amstel's page for the rest of 2026:

Each date has its own ticket link on Amstel's page. Tickets for the pub nights can be resold through Amstel's official resale platform, at face value at most (Amstel FAQ).

Age, ID, bags and the cloakroom

What Amstel's FAQ asks of every visitor (Amstel FAQ):

• 18 and over only. Amstel is a brewer and the legal age for alcohol is 18, so younger visitors are not admitted; for its nights Sligro adds: not even with an adult.
• Bring ID. Security may check your name and age: a passport, ID card or driving licence, not a copy. If the name on the ticket is someone else's, you can be refused.
• Tickets are mobile only. Regular tickets are put in the visitors' names at the end of 2026, and the QR codes appear in your order at least 48 hours before the show.
• Bags: nothing bigger than A4 and about 10 cm thick. No food or drinks, except water in a plastic bottle of up to half a litre without its cap; no selfie sticks or professional cameras. Phones and small cameras are fine.
• Cloakroom: €2.50 per item; there are a few lockers at €7, which you can't book.

Getting to Ahoy: metro, parking, bike and a hotel

Ahoy's event page gives the basics (Ahoy); its venue profile on Evenitto has more on the building and the area.

• Metro and bus: Zuidplein bus and metro station is about five minutes' walk from Ahoy (Amstel FAQ).
• Car: Ahoy has more than 2,500 parking spaces, and its parking ticket with a guaranteed space costs €20 (Ahoy; Amstel's FAQ still gives €19.50). With that ticket you get in even when the signs say the car park is full (Amstel FAQ).
• Bike: free, unguarded bike parking on the forecourt.
• Taxi: an official taxi rank and an Uber pick-up point on the forecourt.
• Food: two restaurants are open on show nights, Bar Restaurant '71, where you can book a table, and RiVers.
• Staying over: Amstel's hotel packages include the transfer; otherwise book a hotel yourself, since the show ends around 23:15.

Tickets for Vrienden van Amstel 2028: when is the sale?

The 2028 sale has not been announced. Amstel opens the sale for the next edition while the current one is on: in 2024 on Saturday 13 January 2024 at 10:00, two days after the first show (Amstel news), and last year on Saturday 10 January 2026 at 10:00 (Amstel FAQ). How it worked last time:

• You need a Vrienden-account, verified with your email address and your phone number; register before the sale.
• When the sale opens, everyone gets a random place in a digital queue, first in, first out. Refreshing the page sends you to the back of the queue, and a place in the queue is no guarantee of tickets.
• Once through, you have 10 minutes to pay. Amstel advises a laptop or desktop, because strict cookie settings on a phone can break the payment.
• At most 8 regular tickets per person; groups of 20 or more apply separately, also with a Vrienden-account.

Quick answers

When is Vrienden van Amstel 2027? On 14 nights from Thursday 14 to Friday 29 January 2027 in Rotterdam Ahoy, with no show on Tuesday 19 and Tuesday 26 January.

Is it sold out? Yes, and so are the VIP and bus packages. Try the official resale once it opens, a hotel package with a show ticket on a night that still has places, or, if your business has a Sligro card, Sligro's savings campaign for Sunday 24 and Monday 25 January.

What does a ticket cost? €55 for a seat in Rang 4 up to €105.75 for standing by the stage or on the arena floor, at face value.

What time does it start and end? Doors at 18:30, the show from about 20:00 to about 23:15.

Who is performing in 2027? Not announced yet. Amstel names the artists shortly before the series; in 2024 that was a week before the first show.

Is it on TV? Not announced for 2027. Last year you could watch on Videoland on Friday 16 January 2026, and the 2026 compilation is still on Videoland.

Is there a minimum age? Yes, 18. Bring ID.

When can I buy tickets for 2028? Not announced. Last year the sale for the next edition opened on Saturday 10 January 2026 at 10:00, and you needed a Vrienden-account.

More big shows of the year, with their sale dates, are in our guide to concerts in the Netherlands in 2027; for the Top 2000 café, quizzes and live shows of the weeks before, see our Top 2000 2026 guide.

Cover photo: the entrance of Rotterdam Ahoy at dusk, 27 September 2016. Photo: Rotterdam Ahoy via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Illustrative photo of the venue; cropped and reduced, no generative editing.