Guns N' Roses put observant fans under the gun in Tel Aviv
Can Ivanka Trump's rabbi solve the concert crisis?
By DAVID BRINNUpdated: JULY 12, 2017 21:07Guns N’ Roses(photo credit: PR)
No good deed will go unpunished, not when Shabbat observance is a factor. Producers of Saturday night's Guns N' Roses sold-out show at Park Yarkon thought they were giving ticket buyers some added value when they announced this week that the American hard-rockers were going to take the stage at 8 p.m. instead of the scheduled 8:30 p.m. to allow for an extra 30 minutes of music before the 11.30 p.m. public noise curfew in Tel Aviv takes hold.However, the time change means that fans of the group who are Shabbat-observant will miss the first half hour of Axl Rose’s and Slash’s performance. Even before, observant fans had to do halachic calisthenics to arrive at the park by 8:30 p.m., just when Shabbat ends.There were reports of Airbnb rentals and hotel rooms within walking distance of the park going like hotcakes, and some concert- goers were contemplating consulting with Jared Kushner’s rabbi to issue an allowance to carry keys and tickets to the show as they walked to the performance before the end of Shabbat.However, the time change to 8 p.m., instead of delighting fans has instead angered some observant fans who, even after expecting to miss the opening tune or two will now miss a hefty chunk of the show.The show’s promoters issued a statement saying, “Production is very sorry and apologizes to the Shabbat-observing community and is prepared to offer an immediate full refund without any additional charge.”According to a report on Ynet, only six ticket-holders have requested – and were granted – a full refund from Ticketmaster Israel.Some fans responded to Ynet’s story by both siding with the promoters and the fans who are going to miss the beginning of the show.“There is just an expectation – if I bought tickets and then the times were changed I would also be upset. The religious-secular debate is something else,” wrote Bianca Lewis.Simon Joseph Wrigley responded, “Freedom and democracy 1, religion 0.”But Kanyu Himinow put it in a way that any Guns N' Roses fan could understand and that any observant fan would agree with: “It would have been easier with the shorter days had they been playing in the cold November rain.”