Late night in Zion

As some of you might know, Matisyahu opened for Sting on Thursday night at the National Stadium. As very few people knew, Matisyahu played a much more intimate concert last night at the Barbi Club in Tel Aviv.

There were no advertisements for the show. The only reason I knew it was happening was because I read a blog late last week that made a brief mention.


Before I describe the concert, let me tell about my experiences getting into the building.

I don't know what other people think of me, but I generally consider myself to be a pretty friendly guy. The list of people that I don't get along with is very short (possibly non-existent). After last night, the list had a new entry.

Let me introduce the bald, sleeveless t-shirt wearing, tough-guy, we-don't-take-no-prisoners, we-don't-take-no-shit-from-anyone bouncer at the club. As is commonplace in Israel, they search you bag before your go inside of a public building. I give him my backpack to check (I had my bag with me because I spent the day at the beach in Tel Aviv and I had to carry around a few day-at-the-beach essentials). As he is looking through my bag, he pulls out my Nalgene waterbottle (For those of you not familiar with the summer season in most parts of the world, it gets very hot and maintaining an optimal amount of water in your system can stave off dehydration)(If you are not familiar with the Nalgene waterbottle, it is the type that you are meant to keep for a period of several years).

One person not very familiar with either of these ideas (or the English language for that matter): the security guard (the bottle was empty). He tells me to throw out the waterbottle. I explain to him how I would be very reluctant to throw out the waterbottle. Then he tells me to put my bag in my car, which I explain to him is a few thousand miles away.

I ask him to clarify what one is allowed to bring into the club and what is forbidden (the don't have a Dan Dickerson recording like at Comerica Park [Please be aware that bats, balls, and other object may go into the stands. The Tigers are happy to let you keep a ball that is hit into the stands but please do not interfere with a ball that is still in play]).

The next words out of his mouth are: you can't come in.

I decide to step away from the entrance to plan my next step (aside from arranging English lessons for the bouncer). If I were the Barbi Club, and I was hosting a concer where a large majority of the audience is American, I would ensure that my staff understood and could speak English). As I move away from the gate, a guy apporaches me and tells me that I can keep my bag in his car until after the show. I accept his offer. He was a nice guy, and I didn't have anything too valuable in the bag. I got the bag back after the show, no problem.

I go back to the door to walk inside (this time without my backpack) and I go through the security check without any problems. After the bouncer seaches me, he moves one foot to the side to allow me to walk through the door. But he still stood in the middle of the entrance between the wall and the table that he uses to search people's bags. As most of you know, I can walk through narrow spaces quite easily. Yet, this space was too narrow for me to walk through without bumping into one side. As I pass through the entrance, I bump into his table. He tells me to wait on the side. After I wait on the inside, like he told me, he asks me why I am waiting (and is quite mad). I decide to walk inside and get my tickets. Although we had about half an hour before the gates opened and could've left the alleyway to get something to eat, I refused to leave to prevent another run in with the bouncer.

As someone familiar with the crowd management industry (although I normally work in customer service, my job often requires me to dabble in the crowd management sector) with experience working the floor at hip-hop shows, I don't believe that this bouncer handled the situation as well as he could've. He also accused me of being drunk because I walked into the table, but it was completely his fault (and I don't drink).

As you can see, this bouncer had a personal vendetta against me.


Just another brief point.

Most places that have a will call booth are organized according to last name. Not Barbi. Will call tickets are divided up by first name.


Now let me tell you about the show.

The old warehouse on the south end of town could hold no more than a few hundred people. Although I have never been there, I would assume that Barbi is like the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. Barbi is often referred to as the best place to watch a concert in Israel (a title given to the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor).


The crowd was mostly American with a few Chabadniks and a high percentage of kippah wearers.

After the Rastifarian opener finished, cheers of "we want mashiach now" took over as the crowd waited with great anticipation for Matisyahu's entrance. His band came on stage first and played a simple rhythm for a few seconds before the front man came on.

Let me tell you. The place erupted the moment that he came on stage and started playing.

He played for about an hour and a half. The place was electric throughout.

The best moment in the show was when his drummer went off stage and Matisyahu displayed his talent in making percussion sounds with his voice (like he was doing a rendition of the Stoney and Wojo theme song). To quote an article I read earlier this year talking about another band "he puts on a fucking good show."

At one point, broke out into the Chabad song and a rendition of the Shema (I don't know if the Shema is normal at his shows or not, but it was pretty cool).

These guys were standing at the exit singing songs about how they want messiah now.


I had received questions earlier in the week of why I would choose a Matisyahu show over a Matisyahu and Sting show. Well, how many times do you get to see the biggest Jewish face in the music world take the stage at a small venue like Barbi, which I loved aside from the bouncer.

After the show, we (along with the two friends i went to the concert with) wandered around Tel Aviv for a couple of hours before deciding (at 3:30) that is was about time to get back to Jerusalem. When we got to the bus station, we waited for 40 minutes before the van filled up. By the time, I went to sleep it was 5:20.