Santana cancels – touring glitch or anti-Israel lobby?

January 31, 2010 - 11:17 AM by David

The announcement had been made, the tickets were being sold, and the hearts of aging baby boomers were actually beating above their normal rate at the thought of seeing Woodstock veteran Carlos Santana and band perform in June in Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium.

Santana was just one of the name artists who confirmed dates for this year – leading a pack that includes Elton John, Rod Stewart, the Pixies, Rhiana, and rumors of shows by Bob Dylan, Metallica, Coldplay and U2.

But, mysteriously over the weekend, the show’s producer Shuki Weiss, released a statement saying that Santana had cancelled the performance to and undetermined time, citing an overloaded spring touring schedule.

Stuff like this happens all the time in the music business, but only in Israel is it chalked up to to anti-Israel sentiments. Yediot Aharonot
ran a story this morning quoting an unnamed source in Weiss’s office as saying that “messages” had been passed onto Santana that it wouldn’t be a wise thing to play in Israel.

Both Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen experienced pressure from pro-Palestinian groups to cancel their shows here over the last two years. And McCartney allegedly even received death threats. So, it’s not an uncommon occurence.

However, someone like Carlos Santana and his management, surely review the proposed itineraries of his tours before giving the OK for confirmation. And Carlos has been around long enough to not be swayed by anti-Israel thuggery – I recall he even used to be in his own youth knife gang as a teen, so he can stand up to threats.

So let’s hope that it was a technical touring glitch, and that the other superstars headed our way won’t be swayed by the misguided propaganda of our adversaries. On the positive side, we won’t have to hear the fiery guitarist extraordinaire perform his Top 40 hit “Smooth.”

Tags: , , , , , • Category: A New Reality, Business, General, Music, Politics, Pop Culture, coexistence 

Comments

8 Comments on Santana cancels – touring glitch or anti-Israel lobby?

  1. David-Joe on Mon, Feb 1st 2010 5:21 AM

    2. You glamorize being a member of a gang by associating it with moral courage? C’mon man!! THINK!

    Santana has long been someone that has spoken out AGAINST Israel.

    Its amazing how Israel apparently craves approval from the world. That is not the Israel of my youth. The late great State of Israel……

  2. Karin Kloosterman on Tue, Feb 2nd 2010 10:55 AM

    3. David,

    Why don’t you try and get an interview with Carlos to find out why?

  3. David on Wed, Feb 3rd 2010 2:16 PM

    4. Hi Karin,
    indeed I am trying to do that.. stay tuned…

  4. Harold on Wed, Feb 3rd 2010 7:40 PM

    5. Since when has Santana spoken out against Israel? I’ve been told (by a very reliable source) that Carlos Santana loves Judaism, and I’ve seen a photo of Santana standing at the western wall with his hand pressed against it in devotion.

  5. Destaques da Mídia – 2010-02-04 | PLETZ.com on Thu, Feb 4th 2010 6:50 AM

    6. [...] cancels – touring glitch or anti-Israel lobby? http://israelity.com/2010/01/31/santana-cancels-touring-glitch-or-anti-israel-lobby/ [...]

  6. miriam sofer on Fri, Feb 5th 2010 6:42 PM

    7. never hrard he was anti-israel. one never knows. hope rhianna doesn’t cancel. she is much better to wtch anyway.

  7. soccer dad on Sun, Feb 7th 2010 4:04 PM

    8. How old is he? 70? So yes, I could believe that he might want to scale back a tough touring schedule.

    Besides, catching all those games plus playing guitar must be awfully grueling.

  8. GdAwg on Tue, Feb 16th 2010 2:07 AM

    9. Santana is not 70 his 62 I guess maybe Santana management cancelled Santana tour not him

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