But let's go a few hours back. We, that is Udi, Doron (the smoker) and me (the nonsmoker), got to the park at 17:00 or so. Me and Doron got free entrance cards from Adi Osi, Kaveret's sweet production manager, and so we got in.The stage was huge and had a Batman-like design from some reason. It had a tongue running into the audience. 4 drums sets were placed - one for the warmup performances, and three (!) for Kaveret. Doron decided to be my manager, and the minute he saw Galey Tzahal's culture reporter, Uri Brightman, he told him to interview me. Uri prepared me and some other interviewees for about 10 minutes, but when we finally got on the air, the interview lasted for about 2 minutes. But it didn't matter to us - it encouraged Doron to get me an interview with a channel 2 crew... And so I talked a bit about Kaveret and my site, and it was kind of fun.
Then Ivri Leader and his band got on the stage. And then they got off. HaZvuvim got on and performed a few songs. They even altered the song "Lama Lo Amart" and sang "Lama Lo Amart Li SheKaveret Hayom Hozeret?"...
And finally, at 20:40, it began. First, drummer Tal Bergman got on. Then, 25 years after their first performance, Kaveret was reunited again. They opened with a short bit from Inspite Of Everything (Lamrot HaKol) of course, and went on with their biggest Kaveret and solo hits. They played:
Towards the end they moved to the front of the tongue-stage, close to the audience, where acoustic instruments were waiting for them. It was cool to see Yonny playing the accordion (who thought an accordion can be cool?), though it was hard to hear it. They did a medley of unplugged songs:
Afterward they got back on the stage and did some more songs:
They were supposed to do 7 encores, including some songs which they haven't performed on stage ever, such as Just What I Like (Kacha Hi Ba'Emtza), but due to the late hour, they were forced to shorten the ending. But they did sing:
They were absolutely fantastic. Beautiful songs, excellent musicians. Sanderson cut back on guitar solos, but when he did play, he was amazing. Klapter did most of the guitar solos, and eventhough a slightly overdistorted sound, regained the best Israeli guitarist title. Shamir proved himself to be a fabulous underestimated guitarist, and an excellent performer. Oleartchik was terrific, definitely one of the most inventive bass players of all times. Unfortunately, I couldn't really hear Rechter's keyboards, but when I did, he was fantastic as ever. Gidi sang beautifully and the combination of his voice with the others' was amazing. Poogy and Tal Bergman (remember Animal from The Muppets Show?) pumped up the concert with energetic powerful drumming.
Some say the concert stunk from greed, or recycling past success, but I don't think so, and don't think it matters. They were great, they seemed to have really enjoyed it, and the audience loved them.
After the concert was over, Doron, Udi and me sneaked to the backstage, where we met the band. I talked to Efraim, with whom I've been in contact in the past few weeks before the concert. I also spoke to Danny, who introduced me to the others. It was fun to discover Poogy remembered me and Doron from our meeting in Jerusalem in 1997. All in all, it was really nice to meet them.
With no doubt, it was the best concert I've ever been in, and it was really exciting to see them all on stage together, one more time.
