Paul McCartney Plays Israel Gig | Peace Protest or Pretentious Publicity Stunt?

Paul McCartney finally played live in Israel on Thursday September 25th, 2008, over 40 years since The Beatles were banned from the country for their potential to corrupt the country’s young people. But, was this high profile gig an honourable peace protest, or was it just a pretentious publicity stunt from McCartney?

Israel banned The Beatles from playing in Israel in 1965 due to the upsetting effect of Beatlemania. It took 40 years for the ban to be lifted, but once it was, one of the only two surviving members of the band wasted no time in organising a concert in the war torn country.

Paul McCartney’s gig was billed as a concert of peace, and McCartney was very careful not to be seen taking sides in the conflict between Israel and Palestine that has been going on for decades. On Thursday night, McCartney played Tel Aviv, and by all accounts, it was a successful set by anyone’s standards.

Before the concert, McCartney also took the time and trouble to visit different parts of the area, calling for peace along the way. During the gig itself, McCartney wore a lapel badge supporting One Voice, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organisation calling for a two-state solution to the conflict.

McCartney kicked off the gig by playing Hello, Goodbye, and sprinkled his set with Beatles classics. The 40,000 strong crowd also saw him perform many of his own solo material, including Live and Let Die with an accompanying fireworks display.

Here is footage of the concert and McCartney’s activities beforehand. He also speaks about his motivation for the gig.

This concert was clearly a good thing, bringing both sides together for a night of music. However, Did McCartney actually think the gig would do any real good in convincing both sides to give up their arms and live side by side in peace?

Also, I have to question his motives for doing it. I know it was intended to be a call for peace, but McCartney has played this game for over 40 years now and knew from the outset that it would also garner him a lot of publicity. Which he clearly loves.

Maybe more artists should visit Israel and Palestine, but they need to realise their visits aren’t suddenly going to change the opinions of people on both sides. McCartney played Israel – good on him. But let’s not take this out of context.

This Tel Aviv gig was still just a concert where some guy who used to be in a band played some songs. That’s not solving anything apart from getting Paul McCartney in the media for something other than a messy divorce.

[Photo Source: From Newscom with permission]