Weiss Says Listen To Editors

Tel Aviv-based promoter Shuki Weiss’s campaign to persuade acts to be more positive about visiting Israel has been given a boost by Editors, which played the city’s Barby Club at the end of last year.

Volatile politics in the region in recent years has led to cancellations from major U.S. rock acts including Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pixies, but the Editors put forward a different view.

Weiss has frequently asked acts to rethink their stance on playing in Israel and use their power to influence public opinion.

Roger Waters, Madonna, Sting, U2, 50 Cent, and Snoop Dogg have played Israel, although some attracted some loud criticism for doing so, while Tom Smith from Editors is clear on what he thinks to the situation.

“The simple fact is we do not believe that playing a show in a country is an endorsement of its government,” he said in a note posted on the band’s website. “For example, our shows in Northern America during the Bush administration did not mean we were comfortable with the invasion of Iraq.”

He said Editors’ Barby Club show was one of the most memorable shows of its career, with “1004 people singing their hearts out, 1004 people who hope for peace and resolve wherever the troubles may be, be it on the door step or the other side of the world.”

He did admit the act had considered not going to Israel, given the recent events and the way the country and the whole of the Middle East is discussed and viewed through the Western media. He said it would have been easier “to cancel, to forget about it and wait until Israel is out of the news again.”

Weiss has always maintained the real sufferers as far as the music business is concerned are the fans of acts who decide not to visit Israel or agree to visit but later cancel.