After overcoming technical difficulties, Israeli contestant gets warm applause.
By AMY SPIROKobi Marimi performs in 2019(photo credit: ORTAL DAHAN)
Israel’s 2019 Eurovision contestant, Kobi Marimi, gave the live debut performance of his song “Home” in Amsterdam on Saturday evening.Marimi joined 27 other Eurovision competitors – as well as Israel’s 1998 winner, Dana International – at the “Eurovision in Concert” event in Amsterdam.“I cannot believe it’s just happened,” Marimi wrote on Instagram after taking the stage. “I performed in front of five thousand beautiful, supportive Eurovision fans... Thank you Amsterdam, it was a great pleasure. See u [sic] all soon in my #HOME.”Marimi was the first performer to take the stage Saturday evening, and started with a slight technical problem. The singer could not hear the track in his earpiece, and he stopped singing until it could be fixed. But once he returned to the song, his powerful vocals impressed the crowd, who awarded him with loud applause.“Thank you so much,” he told the crowd, wiping away a tear. “I’ll see you all in my home: in Israel, in Tel Aviv, in May.”While “Home” hasn’t received much acclaim in Israel, global Eurovision fans are much more appreciative of the song, and enjoyed hearing it live.“He dares to dream. He dares to sing,” tweeted the popular Eurovision site wiwibloggs. “And tonight @KobiMarimi did both at #Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam. YES!”And YouTuber The Lethargic Sloth gave the live performance a similarly rave review.“It just sounded phenomenal, the highs were where they needed to be, the lows were where they needed to be, he had that projection,” he said. “I think that’s going to help him immensely raise up in the standings... I’ve been saying for a long time that hearing him live is going to change his fate.”
