Aussie singer Sia says not aware of any Israeli lawsuit
Disappointed fans had vowed legal action after her August 11 show in Tel Aviv, saying it was short, included prerecorded music and lacked energy
Australian singer-songwriter Sia indicated on Twitter that she was not aware of any lawsuit by disappointed Israeli fans.
Responding to a fan on Twitter who slammed the reported lawsuit, Sia tweeted on Sunday the suggestion that news of the lawsuit was invented by a “bored tabloid writer.”
A group of fans said earlier this month they were filing a class action lawsuit against Sia and Tandi Productions — the promotion group that brought her to Israel for an August 11 show — reportedly requesting a nearly NIS 8 million ($2 million) sum to be paid to all of the concert’s ticket holders.
The fans said they were angry and disappointed with the Aussie singer’s performance in Tel Aviv.
But Sia’s tweet suggested the fans may not have gone to the trouble of actually filing the lawsuit. It read in full: “aw shucks thanks. As far as we can tell there is no lawsuit, just some bored tabloid writer in Israel?Certainly hurts the feels!”
https://twitter.com/Sia/status/767140745153224704
According to some of the disappointed fans who attended the show, it was short — just over an hour — and included background music that was recorded, not live, and archival video clips of her shows, rather than broadcasts of the action on the stage.
“We felt cheated,” said Or Hirshfeld, one of the fans who paid nearly $100 for a ticket to the show. “The live show was an imitation of the recorded show and included actors and dancers who never set foot in Israel.”
According to Hirshfeld, he suspected that Sia wasn’t singing because her voice sounded “too perfect.” There was also a delay between the song and the movement of the singer’s lips.
“It sounded exactly like what you hear on YouTube or the radio,” he said.
There were also no new songs performed by Sia, or alterations made to any of her bigger hits, as singers tend to do while on tour.
It was a disappointment for fans, said Hirshfeld, who had come to expect visiting performers to speak to the audience and play around with their music, creating a different and unique sound.
“There was no connection to the audience or any energy onstage,” he said. “She just stood there during the whole performance, toward the back of the stage and didn’t say anything other than ‘Thank You’ when the show was over.”
Jessica Steinberg contributed to this report.
