2014 is shaping up to be a very fascinating year for international artists coming to perform here. Among the big names who have already confirmed their dates in Tel-Aviv this summer are: The Rolling Stones, The Pixies, Soundgarden, Neil Young and Justin Timberlake. So we wanted to find out how hard it is to convince those big international names to come to perform in Israel, what their presence here bring in positive publicity for the country and do the numbers of cultural tourists go up thanks to acts like this performing in the holy land.
Ron Jacobsohn, JN1 Correspondent:
2014 is shaping up to be a very fascinating year for international artists coming to perform here. Among the big names who have already confirmed their dates in Tel-Aviv this summer are: The Rolling Stones, The Pixies, Soundgarden, Neil Young and Justin Timberlake. So we wanted to find out how hard it is to convince those big international names to come to perform in Israel, what their presence here bring in positive publicity for the country and do the numbers of cultural tourists go up thanks to acts like this performing in the holy land.
The head of the international department at Shuki Weiss productions, Oren Arnan, who amongst others brought to Israel: Madonna, David Bowie and Barbara Streisand claims that the tide has turned when it comes to the willingness of a-list performers to come to Israel.
Oren Arnan, Head of International Dept., Shuki Weiss Productions: Some of the bigger shows we’ve had last year have been Madonna who has played here twice, Depeche Mode have played here twice, we had Linkin Park over, we had an Ozzfest with Ozzy Osborne and Korn and Soulfly and a bunch of other incredible bands, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Barbara Streisand, Circus de Soleil made their debut here in 2012 and will be returning this summer. And I think that if you look back at the last five or six years where you see that there’s a constant increase in the amount of artists coming, to be honest I think they’re talking to each other and they’re saying, you know, we’re having a good time there – let’s go perform in Israel.
The energy here within the audience is great, the weather is fantastic, most of the shows happen in May, through September – October, it all takes place outdoors, it’s not the indoor arenas that they are used to in the US and in Europe and it gives them, you know, a fun kind of different experience with that same rock n roll vibe to it that they’re used to home. There are logistical difficulties with getting here because they have to fly out here whereas in
The cultural editor of Time-Out Tel-Aviv admits having all those big show come to Israel makes the locals feel like they are finally reached some state of normality.
Cholit Blau, Cultural Editor, Time-Out Tel-Aviv:
It’s kind of a symbol for normality. People living here are not used to big names coming here, at least in the music scene and it’s very nice to see big artists coming to make us feel like we’re a normal place, after all. The tickets in Israel are much more expensive than abroad, I think that the differences are maybe sometimes even 100% more expensive in Israel, but I think that’s something take in consideration because the artists are a lot more risk, I think that the artists coming here have a lot more pressure set on them, like you know, preforming in Paris no one would tell you “don’t do it” or “it’s terrible”, whatever. So I guess that’s part of the deal, you know, of living here. I think that with artists like Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Rihanna coming here then we would see a lot of tourists coming to see the shows because it’s much more affordable for people like paying with euros instead of shekels all of the sudden, so I think that yeah the industry is growing rapidly as well.
German Ticket giant, Eventim, has conquered the Israeli market selling hundreds of thousands of tickets per year but more than that because of the international ownership tickets for show in Israel can now also be bought through their network of companies worldwide.
Ami Feinstein, Managing Director, Eventim Israel:
Eventim is an international group, we are part of 21 countries starting from Russia until UK and including Israel. In the last two years there were few events which we were very surprised by the amplitude of people that coming from abroad to Israel, purchasing tickets, getting involved in the local industry. Two years ago, when Madonna launched her campaign in Israel, we received a few thousands of people, almost 4000 people coming from all over the world to Israel; people from Thailand, people from United States, people from the UK. Contact us, went to our web-shop and bought the ticket and we met them at the gates, we’ve met them at the venue, it was amazing, on Depeche Mode more than 1,500 people came, most of them from Europe, the hardcore of the fans of Depeche Mode came especially to see them, Barbara Streisand – same phenomena but the audience was a little but more adult, but still.
Ron Jacobsohn, JN1 Correspondent:
Bringing those high profile artists to perform in Israel is a very costly task too. Before even selling a single ticket the artists earn at least one million dollars. Rihanna earned even $2.2 million dollars when she performed last year and the Rolling Stones are reportedly asking for $4.4 million dollars for a single show. For JN1 I am Ron Jacobsohn in front of the Nokia Arena in Tel-Aviv.
