rain. Everyone was afraid of fucking rain. In the last few days, just before one of the biggest hip-hop concerts in Israel’s history, the weather forecast put a little pressure on the audience that expected to come to Travis Scott’s performance, not to mention the production that brought him. Only this was missing, another huge safety challenge that would make this crazy production even more challenging. Even so, the pressure gauge soared up ahead of the performance – in total the artist’s third since the Astroworld disaster in November 2021 – partly due to Scott’s wild reputation as a crazy performer who enthralls the audience. While marching through Yarkon Park on the way to the gate, I heard someone shout from a distance “today they are breaking through the fence”. Then immediately adds, as if coming to reassure a missing parent, “Just for fun.”
There was fire, but what about the rain? Travis Scott in Yarakon Park. Photography: Alon Levin
The fear of any mishap that would spoil the show was certainly in the air even before a single downpour turned the land of Yarakon Park muddy, but I confess – I actually wanted the rain. In my imagination, I sewed a Hollywood script in which towards the end of the show, at the climax of the last two songs, the gates of heaven will open and the rain-soaked audience will jump during the performance of “Goosebumps”, and experience real chills. It felt like a fitting end to such a historic evening. But life, as anyone familiar with “90210” knows, is not a Hollywood movie. On the other hand, they are also not so bad on an evening when one of the greatest artists in the world lands in Israel at the height of his relevance. Either way, it was clear that this was a groundbreaking event.
I would love to tell you how the warm-up shows were, but unfortunately I can’t. The reason for this is that I chose to arrive late to avoid watching Atar Meiner’s warm-up performance, for exactly the same reason I would avoid going to Eyal Golan’s performance. Unfortunately, this also means that I missed the warm-up shows of talented artists such as Uri Shochat, DJ Moshik, Eden Darso and Norouz, but this is what happens when the organizers of the show choose to give a stage – in the most literal way possible – to a person who is accused of harming women. Not everyone will be satisfied, not everyone will feel comfortable, and I don’t want to deal with it at all in the context of such a festive event, but this is our disgusting reality.
Anyway, back to the music, when I arrived at 20:00 at the park, the atmosphere was electrifying. The audience had already started gathering hours before, and was as enthusiastic as I have never seen an audience at a warm-up concert in my entire life. Travis’ DJ, Chase B, took the stage for a short warm-up set (really short, I mean, 15 minutes short), and the crowd responded like crazy, singing along to the set and rocking the park before the show even started. Three days before, at Travis’ show in Abu Dhabi, the local crowd was a bit sleepy. It was clear to me that the Israeli audience would be much more involved, but I did not understand to what extent.
The grass in front of the Golden. It is clear who will win. Yarkon Park during Travis Scott’s performance. Drone photography: Omri Silver
As a Privilege journalist, I settled in a relatively relaxed area in the golden area next to the stage, but I didn’t take my eyes off the real crazies who came to the show – those who bought a ticket to the lawn, and squeezed in up to the front barriers. The Golden Sins, as important as they are to make such performances economical for producers, do harm the experience of the performance. Those with the money see the performance up close, and the crazy kids are forced to riot from the back, far from the artist’s eye. And Golden wasn’t an area of fanatics, but when some of the grass kids started singing before the show “All the Golden are sluts”, I couldn’t help but agree.
“Anyone doing circle dances, please stop it,” an unknown man said over the public address system after Chase got off. “Because otherwise, they will stop our show.” There is no doubt that this is a police order, albeit a particularly strange one – who has ever heard of a concert where pogo is not allowed? Apparently the many reinforced forces that were in the field were also afraid of the mess, and perhaps also of the rain that was hesitant to come at this stage. The atmosphere was a bit tense, among other things due to the flash warm-up that was suddenly interrupted, and also due to the great booing that the announcement elicited from the audience. All this didn’t really change from the moment the bird call was heard that hinted that here, it was about to begin. At exactly 8:35 p.m., earlier than expected and really early for a hip-hop performance, Travis Scott takes the stage.
Welcome, now give a head. Travis Scott in Yarakon Park. Photography: Alon Levin
I mean, I think he got on stage. It was a little hard to see, not because of distance (Yet, Golden), but because of the weird stage setup that Travis is walking around with at this show. I also saw this set-up at the show in Abu Dhabi, but in Yarakon Park it was bigger and more distant – another stage was placed on the stage, bounded by two huge pieces of fabric on the sides, located at the back of the stage and closed by a scaffolding railing that made it feel like a performance from a balcony. In Abu Dhabi it was a metre-high stage. Here she grows to about 8 meters, perhaps so that the audience behind can see Travis, and perhaps so that Travis can see past Golden. Either way, this opener created a certain distance at the start of the show, and although the crowd jumped at the sound of “Hold That Heat”, it took a few moments for everything to start to pick up.
This first and distant part of the performance, Travis hastened a little. About a quarter of an hour into the show, only in the bass part of the fifth song “Starazing”, he abandoned his highest position in the room, and descended towards the audience, revealing his silhouette up close for the first time. In the background is stardust art, and Travis ends the song with the phrase “all these cameras need to fly”, while referring to the amount of phones that recorded the moment. All Goldens are sluts, eh Travis? With the song “Mamacita”, the audience really started to get into things, and it seems that the artist finally started to express the wild energy that we have been waiting to see. It slowed down a bit with a cover version of Kanye West’s “Praise God”, not exactly the smartest choice in the current climate, but he seemed to pick up on the crowd’s reaction quickly and rushed to finish the song. In fact, he seems to be in a hurry to finish many songs.
where are you running Travis Scott in Yarakon Park. Photography: Alon Levin
At this point I began to realize that this performance, unfortunately, is not one of Travis Scott’s best moments. In Abu Dhabi he was much more energetic (although the crowd there was less responsive than the excellent Israeli crowd), and here he felt a bit rushed. This continued even when he returned to the backstage for a slightly more psychedelic song session – Hart introduced giant plants in the background of his pair of songs with Metro Boomin, “Raindrops” and “Trance”, and although the crowd was still with him, something in the intensity that had started to build a little broke. The huge performer didn’t quite land in the country, and even though the production did everything to make this evening go smoothly (and they definitely succeeded), and even though the audience gave him everything, Travis himself didn’t return all the investment.
There were, of course, some other great moments. The performance of “90210” (which he did not perform in his previous pair of performances) was a wonderful highlight, and the audience embraced this beloved song in a big way, and so it was with “NO BYSTANDERS” that rocked the park. He certainly managed to get a party going for the second half of the show, but it wasn’t the frenzy Scott fans were expecting. The volcano did simmer, but failed to erupt, and despite all my dreams, the moment I heard “Antidote” it was already clear that the heavens would not open for us like Scott was Prince. In fact, the weather was remarkably pleasant. Maybe two drops of rain during the show, and only a drop of mud that any reasonable shoe can handle.
They all survived the mud. Travis Scott in Yarakon Park. Photography: Alon Levin
Scott, on the other hand, was already feeling out of breath at this point. With the arrival of “SICO MODE” I already knew where it was going. I saw it happen in Abu Dhabi – followed by the chills, and that’s the whole show. It was clear to me that the audience would resent an hour and 2 minute performance (I measured accurately, don’t you dare argue with me), during which Scott ran through some of the songs. He didn’t give his all, yet it was over. It’s lucky that Siko Mod is such an amazing song that it can pick up even a toddler’s accompaniment, and it’s lucky that half of the song is actually Drake’s verses, so he could take a deep breath while the crowd yelled back at him how it went off like a light bulb. Something ironic.
Take a moment to catch your breath. Travis Scott in Yarakon Park. Photography: Alon Levin
And yet it is important to say – even with the flaws, it was a historic performance. A pioneering and important event that will hopefully be followed by other events. It is a testament to the purchasing power of hip-hop, and although I don’t know if and how much the production was able to cover costs (my bet with all the production challenges, not really), I hope it will be seen as a victory, and an investment for the future. Because there is something to invest in, and there is no moment that embodies this more than what happened in the last song. The chilling moment that, although it failed to bring us the rain, did bring an unforgettable moment – also for the Israeli audience, but especially for one Israeli rapper who fulfilled the dream of billions around the world.
For the distant audience, it seems Traois simply asked to stop the performance for a moment, and turn on the lights from the stage. It’s a bit strange when it’s a second before the climax of the show, but it started to become clear when on the raised stage at the back, an Israeli fan from the audience came up together with Scott. At first I thought I saw wrongly through the screens on the side, but it was indeed who I thought – not just any fan, but a 20-year-old Israeli rapper named Gad Suad. I’ve known Gad for several years, hanging around in different rap circles, huge talent, big heart, Good Kid, Mad City.
It turns out that Suad arrived at the show with a sign that read “LET ME ON STAGE ON GOOSBUMPS” in red letters. He arrived at the concert with his friends at 1 in the afternoon, waited 8 long hours, and pulled out the sign at the right moment. And oh my god, it somehow worked. And now he is standing in front of more than 30 thousand people, with one of the biggest rappers in the world, about to close the show with a song that is a record. chills. Travis Scott, who was still a bit out of breath at this stage, shared the microphone with Gad Suad, let him run wild in the autotune and perform an energetic performance that only lifted Scott back into the air.
A small historical moment. Gad Suad and Travis Scott, after the show. Photo: Courtesy of the photographer
The audience flew along with them, and the exciting moment became the highlight of the evening in every possible way. So maybe we didn’t get a perfect performance from Scott, and on the other hand the evening did pass peacefully (which is excellent) – but what I will remember from it is the moment when at least one person in the audience, a talented artist and creator in his own right, a rapper with five songs who do not cross 40 A thousand views, was on top of the world. And it’s a whole world. I wish there were more.