So Kool and the Gang, What Is Your Perception of a Jewish State?

Happy Yom Yerushalaim! For those that don't know, today is Jerusalem Day, which was established shortly after the reunification of the city under Israeli control in 1967. From what I understand, many other places in Israel celebrate it, but obviously it's a pretty huge deal here. (Sidebar: For me, it means a day off of work! I'm enjoying my internship, but no arguing here.) Tied into the celebration is Yom HaStudentim (Student Day), which features a huge concert festival right by the center of the city during the erev chag (night before the holiday). How could we miss it? So, about 8-10 of us headed down last night to check it out.

We got to the park around 9:00, a little after the first band (Monica Sex) started. After finding a spot to claim on the hill, we were a little surprised to see Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors take the stage. I gotta say... dude looked OLD. It was pretty clear that most of the crowd wasn't really sure why he was there, and they weren't really into it. The funniest part was when Barron asked the lead singer of Monica Sax if they were going to come to his upcoming concert in Tel Aviv, to which he got a lukewarm "Yeah... sure we're going to be there..." Ouch. Not even the guys you're playing with want to see you anymore. They closed his set out with pretty much the only Spin Doctors song anyone still knows, which was kinda cool.

(Just as a note, my Flip camera is having issues uploading to my blog, so the videos are from my regular camera. Just to explain the poor quality. Moving on.)

The festival was much more than just the main concert stage. There were a ton of booths in the back, including some weird "extreme sports" thing that was basically a few guys jumping off of things while holding a soccer ball. I guess that's Israel for you? One of the cooler booths was a huge painting that was being done by the crowd - the artist painted what it was supposed to look like, and then gave pictures of it to the "painters" to copy onto the big canvas.

Finally, around 12:15AM came the big event - Kool and the Gang! Yes, they were all in their 50s, but they still put on a great show. It was probably one of the most unusual crowds they had had in years, as a lot of the students clearly had no idea who they were. You'd think that they usually perform to American crowds that were fans of theirs back in the '70s, not Israeli students born in the late '80s! Still, it was easily one of the most entertaining concerts I've ever been to. I especially liked before the song "Joanna" when one of them asked the crowd, "Now, how many ladies out there are named 'Joanna'?" The five girls who cheered had to have been liars.

The clearest sign that a lot of people didn't know who Kool and the Gang were before that night was at the end of the show, when they walked offstage without playing "Celebration". Everyone seemed to assume the show was over, and most people seemed confused when the drummer stayed on stage and started a drum solo. Sure enough, however, they band returned to the stage to play their signature song, and the entire crowd loved it. I think Kool and the Gang might have a new Israeli following!

The festival was scheduled to go on until after sunrise, but after Kool and the Gang wrapped up at around 2AM, I and a few others decided to head back. All in all, a great night, with great music, and great friends. What more could you want? Happy Jerusalem Day!