July 12 | JERUSALEM The Rolling Stones will perform in Israel. No dates or venue have been announced for the iconic British band founded more than 45 years ago, production agency Marcel Avram told Ha'aretz on Sunday. 
The announcement about the Rolling Stones' follows the recent performances by Paul McCartney, Depeche Mode and Susan Vega. Madonna will be appearing in Israel at the end of September. Source: JTA H/T Gig
 Sir Paul McCartney:
Terrorists, F.U.!Sept. 25, 2008: Paul McCartney performs in Tel Aviv.
TEL AVIV, Israel — After a 43-year wait, Paul McCartney performed his first concert in Israel on Thursday, kicking it off with the familiar Beatles' song "Hello, Goodbye" to the joy of tens of thousands of cheering fans.
McCartney billed the concert "Friendship First," saying he is on a mission of peace for Israel and the Palestinians.
Singing "Give Peace a Chance," he stopped and let the audience sing the chorus alone. He told his fans, "Here tonight you sang it, you want it." He dedicated the song to his fellow Beatle, John Lennon, who was killed in New York in 1980.
Fireworks lit the sky as he sang "Live and Let Die."
After it was officially announced last month, the concert set off a wave of excitement throughout the country, where visits by A-list celebrities are still a novelty. Almost all of Tel Aviv's nightclubs canceled live entertainment Thursday evening in deference to the rock legend.
A crowd made up of Israelis of all ages, estimated at 40,000, cheered McCartney as he performed outdoors in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park on a warm late summer night. Some wore T-shirts with the slogan, "I love Paul."
McCartney greeted the crowd with a mixture of English and Hebrew, wishing them "shana tova," happy new year, ahead of next week's Jewish new year holiday. His repertoire included many Beatles hits, as well as songs from his post-Beatles group, Wings. The songs included "Yesterday," "Back in the USSR," "Hey Jude" and "Jet." He added two encores for the cheering crowd.
Nadav Erez, 31, from the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, danced enthusiastically throughout the concert. "He should have come here long ago, he should have come again and again, he should come again and again and again," Erez said.
McCartney was first scheduled to appear in Israel with the Beatles in 1965. But in one of the country's most widely repeated tales, an Israeli official supposedly called off the concert for fear it would corrupt the nation's youth. Only in recent weeks, it turns out the story may not have been true.
So pervasive is this story that Israel's ambassador in London, Ron Prosor, sent a letter to the surviving members of the band to express regret over the matter.
"Israel missed a chance to learn from the most influential musicians of the decade, and the Beatles missed an opportunity to reach out to one of the most passionate audiences in the world," he wrote. He told them the country would like to make it up to them by inviting them to play during this year's celebrations marking Israel's 60th anniversary. Only two of the four Beatles, McCartney and drummer Ringo Starr, are still alive.
When McCartney announced plans for Thursday's concert, he acknowledged the ancient brouhaha, saying he was finally coming "43 years after being banned by the Israeli government." He promised to give Israelis "the night they have been waiting decades for."
Ahead of the McCartney concert, newspaper columnist Yossi Sarid, son of the Israeli official who allegedly banned the Beatles, went on a campaign to clear his father's name. Sarid claimed his father had nothing to do with the decision, and that it involved a more mundane feud between two Israeli concert promoters.
Sarid, reached ahead of the concert, said had not heard from McCartney's people and had no plans to attend the concert. "The tickets are too expensive," he said.
A small group of Palestinians urged McCartney to call off the show, saying it was supporting the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. A radical Muslim preacher in Lebanon also called on McCartney to cancel the show.
During a visit to the biblical town of Bethlehem on Wednesday, McCartney brushed off the criticism.
"I get criticized everywhere I go, but I don't listen to them," McCartney said. "I'm bringing a message of peace, and I think that's what the region needs."
Hundreds of police and private security guards were deployed at the concert. But police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said there were no concrete threats against the singer, and no extraordinary security precautions were being taken.
Source: FoxNews
Sir Paul McCartney:
Terrorists, F.U.! From correspondents in Jerusalem | September 24, 2008
POP icon Paul McCartney, one of two surviving members of the Beatles, arrived in Israel today ahead of his first-ever concert in the Jewish state.
The British musician told journalists and fans who greeted him at Ben Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv that he wanted to bring "a message of peace and love'' to the Middle East, according to Israeli public radio.
He will perform an outdoor concert in Tel Aviv tomorrow.
The gig, part of a series of one-off concerts in places the 66-year-old musician has never visited before, comes after two previous unsuccessful attempts by McCartney to perform in the Jewish state.
The Beatles drew up plans to play in Israel at the height of Beatlemania in 1965, but they were cancelled after sponsors failed to raise enough money and lawmakers voiced concern that they might corrupt young Israeli minds.
McCartney also nearly performed in Israel in the late 1970s, but concerts with his post-Beatles band Wings were cancelled due to problems with the venues, he said in comments posted on his website.
In January Israel apologised for the cancellation of the 1965 concert in letters to the two surviving members of the Beatles - McCartney and Ringo Starr - and the families of deceased members John Lennon and George Harrison.
McCartney has played a number of one-off concerts this year, including the "Independence Concert" in Ukraine in June and in Quebec in July. Source:The Australian
Sir Paul McCartney:
Terrorists, F.U.! Saturday, September 20, 2008
By Geoff Baker
Paul McCartney performs in Israel on Thursday for the first time. The concert in Tel Aviv will be a security nightmare and rival groups are playing tug-of-war with Paul's personal politics.
Because he is seen almost universally as 'one of the good guys', everyone wants to recruit him to their side.
Israel, which famously banned the 'decadent' Beatles in 1965, is billing the concert as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations.
Paul with Linda in the Nineties. His Tel Aviv concert is a nod to the Jewish element in his success, including her family the Eastmans whose legal advice helped him during the Beatles' breakup
Some Palestinian groups insist the event should not go ahead - and no one discounts the possibility of an extremist attempting a 'spectacular' to make a political point.
'I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to go to Israel,' Paul told the Israeli media. 'But I refused. I do what I think.'
Paul is no Zionist and nor has he ever spoken up for the PLO, but he is a pacifist and hopes the two sides take a hint from the title of the gig - The Friendship First Concert.
There is also a private reason for Macca's visit - it represents a nod of thanks to those of Jewish birth who were instrumental in helping to forge the Beatles phenomenon.
As a Beatle, Paul's manager, lawyer, song publisher and promoter were all Jewish. Manager Brian Epstein's contacts were particularly useful for the band.
One such man was Dick James, who became The Beatles' song publisher, and who suggested the formation of Northern Songs, the company that made millions for Paul and John Lennon.
Another key player was Sid Bernstein, who helped cement Beatlemania in the United States thanks to the band's concerts at Shea Stadium in 1965.
And then there was Murray Kaufman, the DJ who championed songs such as I Want To Hold Your Hand.
The other Jewish friends in Paul's rise were the Eastmans, the family of entertainment lawyers headed by Lee Eastman, the father of Paul's late wife Linda.
Lee and his son John represented Paul from 1969 and it was through them that Paul bolstered his massive wealth by acquiring publishing rights to hundreds of other songs including the Buddy Holly catalogue. Paul is still represented by the firm.
And then, of course, there is Linda. Paul, will arrive in Israel on September 24, the date on which she would have been 67.
It would be astonishing if the couple's children - Heather, Mary, Stella and James - do not accompany their father.
Of course, this adds to the security risk, and Paul's aides are finalising a protection strategy with the Israeli intelligence service.
As Paul's former spokesman, I know that at all McCartney concerts, the TV news crews are fed one song which they can broadcast for free. But which song will Paul choose?
On the banks of the Mersey in 1990, Paul performed a tribute to Lennon in front of 70,000 fans.
Playing a medley that included Strawberry Fields Forever, Help! and Give Peace A Chance remains one of Paul's career highlights.
One newspaper said of that magical moment: 'We will probably not see its like again.' But on Thursday we just might. Source: Daily Mail via The Scribbler
 JERUSALEM, SEPTEMBER 2 - A Palestinian non-government organisation in the United Kingdom has asked Paul McCartney of the Beatles to cancel his forthcoming concert in Israel because "the expropriations from the Palestinians (by Israel) and the Israeli apartheid cannot be a reason for festivities". According to today's issue of daily Jerusalem Post, the NGO, called Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) has affirmed in a statement directed to McCartney that "performing in Israel in this moment is morally the same as performing in South Africa at the peak of the apartheid". The same request was directed to McCartney, according to Jerusalem Post, also by a British pro-Palestinian lobby, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has asked the famous artist to reconsider his performance in Israel since it is a state which "continues to violate the international law and the human rights with the illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and due to its attitude to the Palestinians". The British branch of an organisation supporting the Jewish state, StandWithUs, has rebelled in defence of Israel, affirming in a letter to McCartney and his manager Stuart Bell that the statement of PACBI "contains just incredible lies". According to StandWithUs, the appeals for boycott of Israel drive an increasing number of people to prove they are sterile. "Performing in Tel Aviv you can expect to meet an audience of Jews, Muslims and Christians, a thing which is just impossible in any Arab state," StandWithUs affirmed. In the meantime the tickets for the concert of McCartney, to be held this month in Tel Aviv, are selling like hot cakes in Israel, despite their high cost. A total 25,000 have been sold so far. Source: ANSAmed
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