Disappointed Tel Aviv concert-goers file class-action suit against Sia

Disappointment was the overall sentiment expressed by many audience members following what they viewed as an abrupt 65-minute set on stage for an expensive admission fee.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, NIV ELIS
Updated: AUGUST 16, 2016 06:39
Sia (photo credit: PR)
Sia
(photo credit: PR)
Australian pop sensation Sia’s highly anticipated performance in Tel Aviv last week apparently led many concert-goers to feel that the “Cheap Thrills” singer had left them with just that.
On Monday, a number of disappointed crowd members filed a class-action suit against the “Elastic Heart” artist, seeking to compensate all ticket holders for the August 11 concert.
Concert-goers who paid NIS 344 for lawn seats in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park were dismayed when the entire concert ended after just 65 minutes, an unusually short length for a major production. But that wasn’t the only thing that upset fans, many of whom spent hours getting to the venue, waiting for the show to start, and battling traffic on the way home afterward.
During the show, the megatron screens usually devoted to portraying the on-stage performance aired a polished, prerecorded video instead.
The footage featured famous actresses such as Kristen Wiig, of Bridesmaids fame, and Gaby Hoffman, from the hit Amazon series Transparent, as dancers, even though they were absent from the actual stage.
Although the video was meant to complement what was happening on stage, the sync was imperfect, even as the colors and lighting were vastly superior to the stage show.
As a result, the vast majority of concert-goers (with the possible exception of people who shelled out for expensive front-row “golden ring” tickets) experienced in essence a movie screening on the lawn of the Yarkon, complete with live backing vocals from a bewigged Sia and a distant stage show they couldn’t see. Even the live vocals felt impersonal, as the artist never once addressed the crowd, mentioned what it was like to be in Tel Aviv, or bantered in any way.
Those downtrodden crowd members also complained that the “Chandelier” artist put on a lackluster show, standing toward the back of the stage throughout the performance while wearing the signature wig that predominantly covered her face.
The suit against Sia and Tandi Productions – the firm that brought her to Israel – reportedly calls for a nearly NIS 8 million sum to be paid as nominal reparations to all of the concert’s ticket holders.