Concert Review: Mark Ronson

Tel Aviv Exhibition Center, August 25.

By ELLE YAHALOM
Mark Ronson_58 (photo credit: Ori Shifrin)
Mark Ronson_58
(photo credit: Ori Shifrin)
With smoky red lights, deep bass, and the hum of over 5,000 fans, Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. turned the stadium at The Tel Aviv Exhibition Center from an empty hall, to a raving dance party.
Opening with “Lose it in the End,” a single from their 2010 album Record Collection, Ronson and band began by saying, “Let’s turn this place into New York City Circa 1995. We’re gonna lose our s*** for a minute.”
Lose it they did. The high energy of the neo disco pop carried throughout the night thanks to the talents of MNDR, Rose Elinor Dougall, and Kyle Falconer who make up the Business Intl.
Halfway through the show, Ronson introduced guest performer Boy George, who was welcomed by a deafening, exuberant crowd. In a black suit, purple sequence hat and rocking eye shadow, the one-time 1980s iconic front man for Culture Club performed “Somebody to Love Me” from Record Collection with another guest, Alex Greenwald, and then took it back to the ’80s with a cool rendition of, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” from Culture Club’s 1982 album, Kissing to Be Clever.
Greenwald, the former front man to the band Phantom Planet, also performed a song of his own; the 2002 hit, “California.” The young, hipster audience was surprisingly ecstatic and not only cheered wildly but sang along to every word.
Ronson, who has worked with many well-known artists like Lily Allen and Robbie Williams, might be best known for producing the landmark 2007 Amy Winehouse album Back to Black. He paid tribute to the late singer towards the end of the show, pausing to say, “Make yourself heard if you like the music of Amy Winehouse! I wouldn’t be here without Amy and her immense talent.”
The band then performed the album’s title song, as well as the well-known hit, “Valerie” from Ronson’s 2007 album, Version.
This visit was not Ronson's first time in Israel, and hopefully not the last.
He certainly seemed thrilled to be back in Tel Aviv :”It is (freaking) good to be here! Let’s make this (freaking) s*** legendary.”