'Hope to see you again soon.' Smith
Photo: Boaz Zilberberg
Indie band Editors: TA show most memorable of our career
Shortly after wrapping up their performance at Tel Aviv's Barbie club, Editors band members send message to fans, say 'a country's people are not its government'
Hours after finishing their show at the Barbie club in Tel Aviv, Editors band members commented on the cultural boycott of international artists on Israel.
On their official website forum, lead singer Tom Smith wrote that their performance in Tel Aviv will be one of the most memorable shows in the band's history, and that he believes "there are terrible things that happen all over the world, but a country's people are not its government."
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In the band's forum, Smith wrote: "Thank you Tel Aviv for a beautiful evening, one that will linger on in our memories for a very long time.
"When Pixies cancelled their headlining performance at PicNic we talked long and hard about if it was the "right thing" for us to still go or not, as we did when we initially got the offer for the show all those
months ago.
"But the simple fact is we do not believe that playing a show in a country is an endorsement of it's government. For example, our shows in Northern America during the Bush administration did not mean we were comfortable with the invasion of Iraq.
"Right now there is no global concerted effort to change the situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians as there was from the world's media, sports stars and musicians etc with apartheid era South Africa.
"Sure, given the recent events and the way Israel and the whole of the middle east is discussed and viewed through the western media it would have been the easier thing to do for us to cancel, to forget about it and wait until Israel is out of the news again.
"Tonight we played one of the most memorable shows of our career, 1004 people
singing their hearts out, 1004 people who hope for peace and resolve wherever the troubles may be, be it on the door step or the other side of the world. Thank you for tonight Tel Aviv, we hope to see you again soon."
