A first tour of Flanders, in sold-out venues, with standing ovations from an audience begging for more, and the première in the capital even: in the AB of all places.

Just to summarize: First there was the 'The Broken Circle Breakdown featuring The Cover-Ups of Alabama' show, a Compagnie Cecilia production. The show was played over a hundred times, the show was sold out more than a hundred times. Press and public were very impressed by this compelling drama.

Then surely you saw the feature length film 'The Broken Circle Breakdown' by Felix van Groeningen, with leading actors Johan Heldenbergh and Veerle Baetens. The film became a big international success, attaining the likes of the Audience Award at the film festival of Berlin.

Music plays an important role in the storyline, both in the show and in the film. Songs from the show were used for the film, but new songs were chosen too. Bjorn Eriksson provided new arrangements for all the songs. It was already known that Johan Heldenbergh was a fan of bluegrass and americana but, since the recording of the film, Veerle Baetens is also under its spell.

The Broken Circle Breakdown In Concert headed out on tour and the 14 concerts were sold out in no time. “Music that is such an authentic mix of proficient teamwork, heartwarming vocal harmonies and lyrics about the arrows of love are the perfect medicine for the everyday hasty lack of social cement in these dark days .” wrote De Standaard.

The desire to create a sequel as The Broken Circle Breakdown Bluegrass Band was great and so all diaries were thoroughly examined. As a result, AB is exceptionally proud to make its stage in the capital available to this captivating and heartwarming band.

With:

Johan Heldenbergh: vocals, banjo, guitar

Veerle Baetens: vocals

Bert Van Bortel: vocals, guitar, mandolin

Nils de Caster: vocals, violin

Karl Eriksson: vocals, banjo, guitar

Tomas de Smet: vocals, bass

Bjorn Eriksson: vocals, guitar, dobro