A hot and sticky night in July, with a amphitheater filled with men and women of all ages was the best possible venue to watch and hear HaYehudim (היהודים) give a high-energy, no-holds-barred celebration of their hits from the past 40 years.
The show was in MAX Live Park in Rishon LeZion and the band was joined by many guests during the two-hour show.
HaYehudim don’t really need an introduction to anyone who has spent time with Israeli rock radio over the last two decades. Four gold albums, three platinum, a shelf full of Band of the Year and Album of the Year awards — the kind of resume that could make a band coast on nostalgia. They didn’t. From the first chords, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a greatest-hits victory lap so much as a full-throttle, sweat-through-your-shirt rock show, the kind where the bass and guitar hit you in the chest before your ears even process it.
The show was bookmarked with nods to Led Zeppelin, as the band opened with a run of high. Tom Petrover and Orit Shahaf alternated singing (and I have to mention Shahaf’s microphone stand which was decorated with ferns, but looked like she was in a David Attenborough documentary). The drums of Yahav Lipinsky filled the stadium, Itzik Solam’s Les Paul guitar was worthy of the greatest of the 1980s hard rock bands, Greg Pearl prowled the stage and holding down the low end on his bass like he belonged in the Seattle grunge scene, and Eran Mittalman was on keyboards, though he was heard but not seen until almost the end of the staage. The musicianship was tight in the way only a band that’s been touring together for years can manage.
And then came the guests, or perhaps it was more like a family reunion of Israeli rock and pop greats. Shabak S’ came out to sing a raw, punk song about Mashiach. Shira Zaloff sang a couple of duets, looking like a cross between Cher and Stevie Wonder.
But let’s be honest about who the crowd was really waiting for: Gidi Gov.
There’s something almost unfair about how much warmth a single figure can generate just by walking onto a stage, but that’s Gidi Gov for you. The moment he appeared, the entire amphitheater — thousands of people — seemed to collectively straighten up and lean forward. He’s spent decades as one of the most beloved voices in Israeli music, and you could feel the accumulated goodwill of that career land all at once. He joked that he’s older now, but coming out on stage is for him like one of those little blue pills, that gives him back all his pep.
Because this is Israel, emotions always hit hard. The entire concert, and every concert Hayehudim have played since October 7, was dedicated to the memory of Guy Illouz, the band’s soundman who was kidnapped and murdered in Gaza by Hamas terrorists. Tom sang an emotional, tearful, stripped-down version of “Geneiva” (“Stolen”), making the poignant lyrics about Guy:
