Israel was in an uproar today after Elton John, mobbed by fans and photographers at his hotel in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, fled the country and canceled his show, which was to be held tonight.
But appeals from an ambassador, organizers and fans moved Mr. John to announce that he would return from London to perform his concert in a Tel Aviv park a day later than planned.
“It’s important for Israel’s reputation that he come,” said the concert’s organizer, Zeev Eizek. “We don’t have a beautiful image abroad, and I hope this helps repair the situation a little.”
Britain’s Ambassador to Israel, Andrew Burns, was among those who appealed to Mr. John to keep his concert date.
The singer had to hop over sofas to get through the lobby of the Tel Aviv Hilton on Tuesday while his bodyguards shoved and swore at the crowd. Two photographers and a fan were injured.
Mr. John was also apparently insulted by being treated as a normal traveler at customs. Mr. Eizek said Mr. John spent more than an hour shuffling three times between the V.I.P. lounge and passport control before being let into Israel.
I remember the incident well – I was but a young whippersnapper in Israel for the year, for the first time in my life.
Well, 23 years have passed and that’s a lot of water under the yellow brick road. I am glad to say that this time around, it all went well. Like really well.
Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Some 40,000 people gathered on warm early summer evening for the show, at which Sir Elton, 69, played a 27-song set featuring most of his classics as well as three cuts from this year’s “Wonderful Crazy Night” album.
He pumped his fists with joy and enthusiasm at the end of most songs, gave out plenty of “thank you”s and “love you”s, and took no breaks during the two-hour-plus show.
At the end of “Your Song,” about two-thirds of the way through the set, he told the crowd, “That’s Your Song, Israel” — a sweet touch, given that the lyrics include line such as “My gift is my song and this one’s for you,” and “How wonderful life is while you’re in the world.” John has similarly addressed this song, on previous tours, to the cities in which he was playing.
Ahead of the encores, John left the immediate environment of his piano and made a rare foray to center stage, and declared, “Thank you, Tel Aviv. This is the first night of our tour and we couldn’t have asked for a better audience or a nicer place to play.”
Our own intrepid Elton John reporter Brian of London was there on assignment:
Last night my parents took my wife and I to see Elton John play in Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv. Elton John has been rocking since before my parents were married and before I was born.
Elton played piano and sang like a demon for two and a half hours. That’s a hell of an achievement for anyone, let alone someone who’s been doing it for longer than I’ve been alive.
As ever in one of these big events in Israel: the security and the crowd control was pretty epic. There’s a reason why we pay a huge amount for tickets: every one of the many entrances and exits was guarded by armed guards. A multi layered security ring with an outer and inner permitter makes it a hard target to attack. That’s just a price we pay for living with belligerent neighbours. But don’t think for a second we wouldn’t prefer if we didn’t need that.
The professional critics have given their universal approval, he played most of my favorite songs (and a few less well-known ones that I liked). The big thing is that he’s completely unapologetic in coming, he said how much he loved kicking off his entire European tour in Israel and it’s clear nothing would stop him doing that again. Unless (as he said at the end) he shuffles off this mortal coil. Well I hope he doesn’t and I’ll be there the next time he plays in our big park.
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
