Open Letter To The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Dear Band,

My name is Ido and I'm a music blogger from Tel Aviv. Your show here made me really excited. It has been a while since a band that I really liked came to town and blasted great music at us. I even urged my readers to come and check you out. Your cancellation made me really bummed and a little angry, so I decided to write you a letter.

I have to ask, what happened? Why did you cancel the show? Were you pressured by pro-Palestinian organizations not to perform in Israel? Did they tell you that your show would support the Israeli occupation of Palestine? Did you receive any threats? I hope it's not that bad. Otherwise I would say that you've been extorted, lied to, and even terrorized.

Having a show in Israel does not mean you support the Israeli government, the occupation of Palestine, or any of that bollocks. It only means you support your fans. No one else will remember that you played here in a few months after the bullshit storms are over. In fact, living in Israel does not mean one supports any of the above. Fortunately I live in a democracy and I can have a private opinion and express it.

As the new cliche says, bands play for people, not for governments. The kind of people who would've come to your gig would've mostly consisted of apolitical intellectuals and left wing liberals. Plenty of us are frustrated with corrupt authorities and the lack of progress with the peace process. By canceling your show in Israel you've missed the opportunity to interact with us and support some of the sane and progressive voices in Israel.

I'll never forget the show Rage Against The Machine had here in 1997. Zack De La Rocha yelled from the stage "This song is dedicated to Bibi Netanyahu!" and the band began playing "Tire Me". The government was crap back then as well (a little bit of history repeating?), and RATM, the most political band in the world, came here and told us what they think of it. They didn't come here because they supported Bibi or the right wing and no one thought that they ever did.

What about other bands who performed here? Your colleagues from New York, Interpol, are they an evil band who support misery and suffering? Did their performance here support in any way the occupation of Palestine? No. What about Blonde Redhead, Jane's Addiction, Twilight Singers, Suede, Mark Ronson? Are these right wing fascist musicians? Nope. Even if they are, they're entitled to their opinion, and their shows here had nothing to do with that. Their shows only had to do with music and probably some money as well.

It's a shame you chose the easy way out, to ditch us and leave us alone instead of coming here and seeing things for yourself. You might have found out the situation isn't as black and white as it may have been presented to you, that there are different voices here and there are assholes and good people on both sides of the border. Besides that, I love good shows and shoegaze, and I'm sad to miss the opportunity to see you live.

Sincerely,

Ido Schacham