No sooner do I go and add his name to the list of performers coming to Israel this year, does Gil Scott Heron announce his cancellation of next month’s planned gig at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv. The grandfather of hip hop follows in the footsteps of another granddaddy of rock’n’roll, Santana, who also announced his Tel Aviv gig was off a few weeks back.
It seems that those who hate Israel had their moment of glory in convincing Gil Scott Heron into abandoning plans to perform in Israel. Apparently, activists from the Gil Scott Heron Boycott Israel Campaign turned up at his gig at London’s Royal Festival Hall a couple of nights ago and their protests both before and during the show prompted Gil Scott Heron into declaring that he wouldn’t be performing in Israel “until everyone is welcome there”.
Despite there being no official cancellation, and yes, you can still apparently buy tickets, it does in fact look like the show is off.
Which is a bit of a shame really, because we love big names coming to Israel and strutting their stuff on stage. Israel might not have had the greatest press in recent times, but we feel it’s always a shame when politics gets mixed up in music and entertainment in general. Especially when those mixing it up probably just don’t “get” what Israel is all about…
Tel Aviv’s loss or Gil Scott Heron’s loss? Hmmmm.