The Rolling Stones will – or will not – perform in Israel in June, more than year after The Jewish Press’ Purim page announced a supposed gig, complete with Mick Jagger having an audience with President Shimon Peres.
The gag was clearly marked a prank and was an impossible tale that could be believed only by someone who just woke up from a 40-year-old coma.
Nevertheless, it was reported as fact, to the delight of fans of the Stones and to the chagrin of the Boycott Israel Movement. The Times of Israel noted that the spoof, published on Purim, was written in such a way that “even for the not-Jewishly aware, however, the fact that the article was illustrated with a blatantly photo-shopped image, ‘showing’ the Stones “holding” a large plaque bearing Israel’s state symbol, ought to have given the game away.”
Now the Hebrew language Yediot Acharonot is reporting that the Stones are negotiating for a $.5 million offer to play in Tel Aviv.
Purim is two months away, so the report may have some validity, especially it specifically names the promoters who are supposedly dickering with the Stones.
Full disclosure: I saw the Stones perform in Montreal in the 1970s when I was on the entertainment beat for a local tabloid. I almost caught lung cancer from the marijuana smoke that hardly left enough air for breathing in the Montreal Forum. I still suffer from tinnitus as a result of the on-stage noise.
But all that is worth if the Rolling Stones really do come to Israel this year and drive the Boycott Israel movement over the cliff.
