Lana Del Rey nixes Tel Aviv show
American songstress, whose concert was the only one still taking place amid Gaza violence, joins other int’l acts and cancels it
Yifa Yaakov is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
On the heels of cancellations of Tel Aviv area shows by the Backstreet Boys and Neil Young, American songstress Lana Del Rey — the only high-profile international act whose show was still set to take place as planned — on Friday nixed her August 20 performance in Israel amid continued violence in the region.
Del Rey, known for hits like ‘Summertime Sadness,’ was scheduled to perform at the Trade Fair & Convention Center (Ganei Hata’arucha) in Tel Aviv in what was to have been her Israeli concert debut.
The Israeli producers of the show said in a statement Friday that it would be rescheduled, and that “Lana apologizes from the bottom of her heart to the fans who purchased tickets for the show.”
Del Rey’s cancellation joins a string of other cancellations by many international acts over safety and other concerns amid the violence in the region, disappointing Israeli fans who had been hoping for a culture-filled summer.
On Tuesday, LA thrash metal band Megadeth canceled its performance in Tel Aviv just a day before it was scheduled to take place.
The group, which has performed in Israel three times before, seemed dead set – megadead set, if you will – on making it back to the Holy Land this summer, despite weeks of incessant Hamas rocket fire on Israeli cities and an Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip. Just after the hostilities broke out in July, Megadeth told Channel 2 that anyone who doesn’t come to Israel is “a coward.”
Despite those assurances, on Tuesday morning, Megadeth posted an announcement on their official Facebook page, saying, “Tel Aviv Concert Cancelled” due to, as they put it, “an inability to confirm the guaranteed passage of the band and their gear into Tel Aviv in time for the show.”
Following the cancellation announcement, concert promoter Udi Appelboim said he was also still expecting Del Rey on August 20; he had recently announced that local singer Marina Maximilian Blumin would be Del Rey’s warm-up act.
“No news is good news, right?” Appelboim had said.
On Friday, those hopes were dashed as well.
Debra Kamin and Jessica Steinberg contributed to this report.
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