Lorde Cancels Tel Aviv Gig Amid Protests

Lorde has canceled her June 5 appearance at the Tel Aviv Convention Center following backlash from activist groups who say artists should boycott the country because of human rights violtations.

Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic – Lorde
Lorde has an otherworldly presence during the Life Is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas Sept. 22.

“I’ve received an overwhelming number of messages & letters and have had a lot of discussions with people holding many views, and I think the right decision at this time is to cancel the show,” Lorde reportedly said in a statement reported by The Jerusalem Post. Refunds are said to be available through the show’s organizers.

Lorde added, “I had done a lot of reading and sought a lot of opinions before deciding to book a show in Tel Aviv, but I’m not too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one.”

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Here is <a href=”https://twitter.com/lorde?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Lorde</a>'s statement on the cancellation of her Tel Aviv show, via Israeli PR for the concert. <a href=”https://t.co/Ph0uGHRjCV”>pic.twitter.com/Ph0uGHRjCV</a></p>— Amy Spiro (@AmySpiro) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AmySpiro/status/945004277298278405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>December 24, 2017</a></blockquote>

New Zealand-based Lorde, who released the acclaimed Melodrama this year, is set in March to play North American arenas with Run The Jewels as support.

She played mostly festivals and overseas this year, including major events like Bonnaroo and Glastonbury. She also had headline dates in Europe with Khalid as support, as well as dates in Australia and New Zealand. Reports to Pollstar from the European dates include Oct. 15 at Tempodrom in Nerlin, which sold 3,549 tickets and grossed $136,711, and Oct. 2 at the O2 Academy Glasgow, promoted by DF Concerts and which sold out 2,550 tickets and grossed $107,850.

While calls for boycotts are frequent, scores of acts still play Tel Aviv, including just in recent months artists like Radiohead, Cliff Richard, Future, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Take That and Bryan Adams. Artists to play there in 2018 include Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Rag N Bone Man, Andre Rieu, Scorpions, Foreigner and others.

However, there have been some high-profile cancellations, including Lauryn Hill and Elvis Costello in recent years.

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement describes itself as “working to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law.”

It claims “Israel is occupying and colonising Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes. Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the BDS call urges action to pressure Israel to comply with international law.”