Israeli promoter: Springsteen will perform here

Shuki Weiss tells 'Post' that logistics, not boycott, behind inability to bring the Boss to Israel thus far.

By DAVID BRINN
Bruce Springstein 370 (photo credit: Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
Bruce Springstein 370
(photo credit: Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
Bruce Springsteen will one day perform in Israel, according to the local concert scene’s dean of promoters Shuki Weiss.
“I can say with full confidence that a Springsteen show will take place in Israel,” said Weiss in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that will appear in Friday’s Jerusalem Post Magazine.
Every time Springsteen and the E Street Band launch a mammoth tour of Europe and don’t include a Tel Aviv show in their itinerary, the rumors swirl surrounding possible boycott issues, but Weiss, who has promoted hundreds of shows over the past 35 years, blamed the inability to bring the Boss to Israel on logistics.
“It’s not a financial consideration or any other consideration – when it happens, it will happen. Our communication with his management is excellent, and there have been three times that we were so close to closing a deal,” said Weiss.
Springsteen is launching his 2013 European jaunt on April 29 in Oslo and will play over 20 shows around the continent before winding down on July 23 in Cardiff, Wales.
An online Facebook petition started in Jerusalem urging Springsteen to add an Israel date to the tour has garnered nearly 2,000 members, but Weiss said that the considerations are more complicated than simply adding another date.
“Like many touring acts, his time in Europe is restricted... and we’re not a very big market. To play in Israel, you’re looking at a loss of days – in the time it takes to fly here, set up, play one or two shows and fly out, you could perform four nights in a row in Europe.”
Weiss cited intensive efforts and contacts spanning many years before shows here by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Depeche Mode came to fruition.
“These big tours have so many factors – the manager, the band, the agent, production manager, the routing – it’s so hard to coordinate between all those elements. But it happened with the Chili Peppers and it will happen with Bruce.”