The American singer-songwriter is slated to perform during a massive music festival in Israel’s north in September.
By: United with Israel Staff
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, better known by her stage name Lana Del Rey, is booked to perform in Israel next month, joining the lineup of a music festival that boasts top rapper Pusha T and the popular dj and producer Flying Lotus.
While Del Rey was set to play the Holy Land in 2014, she cancelled the show due to security concerns related to Operation Protective Edge, during which Israel was forced to address the security threat posed by the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
Del Rey’s performance will be part of the Meteor Festival, a three-day Woodstock-like party on a kibbutz called Lehavot Habashan in northern Israel.
The fest includes an eclectic lineup of hip hop, dance, and jazz, with Del Rey expected to perform her smash hits “Summertime Sadness” and “Young and Beautiful.”
The announcement of Del Rey’s gig may bring solace to Israeli music-lovers, who missed out on concerts by rappers Tyga and Fat Joe, both of whom canceled shows in Israel due to “security concerns.”
While Fat Joe led a rap group called the “Terror Squad” in the late nineties and aughts, his apparent fear of facing actual terror was enough to keep him from performing in the Holy Land.
Whether or not Del Rey will face pressure to cancel her gig from the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement remains to be seen. In the past, BDS mouthpiece Roger Waters has aggressively targeted musicians scheduled to play in Israel with public shaming and less than honest rhetoric.
Artists such as Radiohead, Ringo Starr, and Morrissey, among others, all ignored Waters’ tactics and rejected the BDS movement.