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Beach Boys’ lead singer to perform in Israel

January 27, 2016

A year and a half after the Beach Boys cancelled a concert in Israel, the band’s lead singer has announced that he will perform in the Jewish state, Haaretz reported Tuesday.

Brian Wilson, lead singer of the legendary group, will perform in Israel as part of his tour to mark 50 years since the release of the band’s most famous album, “Pet Sounds”.

The concert includes all of the tracks from the album released in 1966 and Wilson will be joined on the stage by Beach Boys members Blondie Chaplin and Al Jardine.

According to Wilson’s website, the Israel concert will take place on June 8 at the Raanana Amphitheater. The tour will also take Wilson to Australia, Japan, the U.S., Britain, Spain, and Portugal

The Beach Boys were scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv in November of 2014, but cancelled a month before the concert.

Palestinian Arab groups calling for a boycott of Israel had been attempting to talk the Beach Boys out of going to Israel, but it was not clear if the campaign had anything to do with the cancellation.

Supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement have for years called on singers, musicians and actors who plan to visit Israel to boycott the Jewish state. While some have caved in to the boycott calls, quite a few have rejected them and went ahead with their visits to Israel despite the backlash.

One example of an artist who did not cave to the BDS pressure is popular rhythm and blues artist Alicia Keys, who gave a sold out concert in Tel Aviv in 2013.

The pop duo Pet Shop Boys also rejected calls from pro-Arab activists to cancel a Tel Aviv concert. The concert went ahead as scheduled.

But along with Wilson’s announcement of a concert in Israel, word also came out that Scottish singer Donovan has canceled his planned performance in Israel this Wednesday.

According to Haaretz, a post on Donovan’s Facebook page said he “is definitely not going to Israel to play” because “the contract arrangements for a Donovan concert have not been completed.”

But ProgStage, the event’s Israeli producer, denied the claim and said “there is not and never was any contractual problem between the parties. We were told last week that Donovan was ill with the flu, and now he has announced he isn’t coming.”

Donovan was to host Ukuleles for Peace, a Jewish-Arab youth orchestra whose participants come from Hod Hasharon and Tira.

The founder of the orchestra, Paul Moore, told Haaretz that he hoped Donovan’s cancellation had nothing to do with a boycott of Israel.

“This is sad for me and for all Donovan’s fans in Israel,” said Moore. “We were told he was ill with the flu. I hope it’s not because of a boycott of Israel. He’s a man of peace, not a politician. I hope he’ll get better and come in the future.”

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