Matisyahu at the Barbie

The Barbie in Tel Aviv was packed to the brim last night as Israeli reggae fans, new immigrants, secular hipsters, hippies, chabadnikim, intrigued music fans, an Israeli top selling artist and at least one cynic (me) gathered to see the world’s only hassidic reggae superstar. I believe that contemporary Jewish music for the most part is utter crap, so when I first heard Matisyahu I was impressed, but not impressed enough to believe that he is the Jewish Bob Marley (which he most certainly is not). His live show is said to be outstanding so I was really looking forward to it, and although I’m generally wary of hype I went to the show with an open mind.

A few comments, both good and bad:

- The band was super tight and Matisyahu does indeed have an amazing stage presence, but what’s up with the reverb overload on the voice?

- They were several cameras set up for a Matisyahu DVD which were annoying because of their location and because it was obvious several people were hamming it up in front of them.

- The new songs sounded great. I love the title “Fire of Heaven, Altar of Earth.” It’s so metal.

- I could have done without the five-seven minute drum solo (Tommy Lee called, he wants his drum set back)

- Pauses between songs were way too long and I think this detracted from the flow of the show.

- At one point he brought up the Holocaust. What a downer. Dude, I came for a rock show, the last thing I want to be reminded of is the destruction of European Jewry.

- The crowd was without a doubt into the show and I’d say that 85% of the attendees were in constant motion.

- Highlight of the show was “King Without a Crown,” definitely the tipping point of the night. EVERYONE was moving, but oddly enough the band mistakenly followed up with a slow song. It seemed whenever they had momentum with a fast song they slowed down. What’s up with that?

Israeli mega-selling musician and Jewish diaspora musical darling Idan Reichl was there and a reporter asked him what he thought of the show. He replied that Matisyahu is really talented and that he has been to the Barbie dozens of times and has never seen such a large crowd of religious and secular Jews enjoying music together. He also said that Matisyahu’s sound is “real Jewish music.” I piped in and asked, “Perhaps a collaboration in the future? Maybe he’ll appear on your next album?” Reichel replied, “I would be honored.” I told him that I can hook that up for him. High five!

Two random items that had nothing to do with Matisyahu:

There was this one dude who was obviously tripping his face off and kept asking Ziva about her green pumas. He said he had them in blue, but in green, they were just magical. At that point I told him he had a dragon on his shoulder and slowly steered my wife away.

We went to the show with my dear pious friend and lifelong Matisyahu fan, Dr. Zev Alexander (if you ever end up in Bellevue hospital’s psychiatric ward be sure to look him up). I had stepped outside for some fresh air and some hippy Moroccan chick was unconscious and poor Zev had to step in and play doctor. He missed the last six songs of the show. Sorry Zev! Next time I’ll leave the bitch passed out on the floor. Zev is visiting here for a week and this was the second time I saw him. Earlier in the week we witnessed a woman get hit by a car. We decided it’s best not to see each other anymore. Too many people are getting hurt.

I saw Mercury Rev at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv on Monday night and that show has resonated with me all week. Can’t say the same thing about the Matisyahu show. Perhaps in light of all the hype my expectations were just too high.

Tags: matisyahu