Kaveret launches comeback tour with Jerusalem concert
8,000 fans swarm Sultan’s Pool for first of three performances by iconic rock band after 15-year break
Legendary 70s-era Israeli rock band Kaveret launched its summer reunion concert tour Wednesday with a performance in front of 8,000 fans at Jerusalem’s Sultan Pool.
The band’s seven members, all in their 60s, seemed thrilled to share the stage together after 15 years and concert-goers appeared no less enthusiastic.
Kaveret (the name means “beehive” in Hebrew) released three seminal albums from 1973 to 1975, and its 1976 breakup spawned the careers of rock mainstays Danny Sanderson, Gidi Gov and Yoni Rechter. It was also one of the first Israeli rock acts to tour worldwide, for which it adopted the name “Poogy.” The band is often credited with the being the first true homegrown rock band.
Concert-goers sang along word-for word with the band’s classics and special renditions from its respective members’ solo careers.
Even the shoulder injury that frontman Gov suffered last week could not dampen the mood. Gov joked that his broken body was full of platinum and that it was the only platinum he ever received without releasing an album.
The concerts mark 40 years since the seven-man band, most of whose members met while in the IDF, released its landmark first album “Sipurei Poogy” (Poogy Stories). Kaveret has performed occasional reunion gigs, notably in 1984 and 1990 for summer concerts, and again in 1998 for Israel’s 50th birthday.
Kaveret will return to the Sultan’s Pool on Thursday and Saturday, before concluding what is likely to be its final joint run with two August concerts in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park.
