There’s no easy way to say this – Leonard Cohen is not coming to Israel after all: The Jewish singer and artist has decided to cancel his Holy Land
performance scheduled for September 18 at the Ramat Gan Stadium. Cohen’s managers announced the cancellation late last week.
Cohen had booked his performance four months ago. Later on, rapper Snoop Dogg asked to perform on the same date and in the same venue but after long negotiations, it was decided to keep Cohen’s performance as scheduled.
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With his latest cancellation, the stadium owners are now trying to convince Snoop Dogg to revert to his original request date.
Sources involved with Cohen’s performance in Israel say the concert was cancelled because the Israeli commercial companies, including the three largest cellular service companies, refused to sponsor the performance.
“Producer Marcel Avraham was reluctant to invest too much of his own private funds on the show," a source said, explaining why Avraham tried to approach a commercial company to a large sponsor ship deal. When that didn’t happen, the producer realized he was going to lose big time and pulled the plug.
The music industry estimated that the concert would have probably cost over a million dollars, leaving those involved in the production with heavy debts. “The number of concert goers paying NIS 200 (about $60) and above could not have totaled much more than NIS 25,000 (about $7,456)," a senior music producer predicted.
“Don’t forget that overseas ticket sales to see Cohen aren’t exactly soaring,” the producer said, adding that “it’s a great shame, because artists of Cohen’s caliber are not quick to come and perform in Israel. It doesn’t help the music industry in Israel keep up a good name.”
Sources in the Ramat Gan Stadium management added Sunday that Cohen’s managers were also upset about the date conflict that came up suddenly, even though they eventually won the desired date of September 18.
Marcel Avraham’s Attorney confirmed Sunday that the concert was indeed cancelled for reasons which could not be disclosed.
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