Shlomo Artzi – the Israeli Springsteen

Following my passion for music and in continuation to my concert reviews I wanted to share with you a great concert experience I had some months ago.

Rajel was so kind to invite us to a great concert right in Jerusalem’s gan saker. We went to see Shlomo Artzi.

Shlomo Artzi is kind of an Israeli version of Bruce Springsteen. In fact I did some research and they were both actually born in 1949 a couple of months apart and they both have 3 children. In terms of albums sold they stand 1.5 million vs. 185 million (guess who’s got what?), OK they are not really comparable, but somehow they have many similarities. They both have very poetic lyrics, both are loved by the mass and have had a very long musical career.

I have been listening to Shlomo for a very long time. I might owe him a lot for my Hebrew as much as I owe the Beatles for my English (although I think the Beatles did a better job).

More than two years ago we had tickets to see Shlomo and that same day I had a fever. I guess it was from excitement :), so it had to wait for two years to see him.

The concert was in an open park, we brought our picnic carpet which helped us keep a “private” area as well as some snacks. The concert started and it was very exciting to see Shlomo. He is a very good showman and artist, however he is definitely not at the peak of his career.

Shlomo makes very interesting arrangements to his well known songs that make his old songs once again modern, however many times during the concert he started to recite instead of singing, again and again and again. It’s clear that his voice is not what it was, and quite possible that there was some alcohol influencing his performance as well (but not confirmed).

All in all it was a great night and a great concert. Below some photos an a very short video of the concert.

 

 

The story does not end there. A couple of weeks ago we went to a great musical play.

It was called לילה לא שקט (Restless Night) and just like Mamma Mia is to Abba, “Restless Night” is to Shlomo Artzi. It was a very entertaining play and put together very nicely at the Cameri theater in Tel-Aviv, all based and inspired by Shlomo Artzi’s songs.

The singing was much better and powerful than the concert. The story was not a big deal (just like it was not a big deal in Mamma Mia), but it was funny, well performed and a good restless night.

Apparently there were a couple of famous actors, however we are still not familiar with all the Israeli celebs., nevertheless we did recognize the girl from Kochav Nolad (Israeli version of American Idol). If they would have sold a CD of the show I would have bought it, I guess I will have to wait to see if it gets to Broadway to buy the CD.

If you want to read more about concert experiences don’t miss:

The historical Paul McCartney in Tel-Aviv concert

The Woodstock Revival in Jerusalem

A Night at the Party – Mashina Unplugged !

D's Salve a la Reina en Mexico

Zvika Pick at Israel’s 62 Celebration

From Toyota to Alan Parsons Project

And by the way, the rumors and news of U2 and Coldplay in Israel for Summer of 2010… well… I guess they are not coming anymore even though the weather still feels like summer.

I hope to soon attend more concerts to share with you.