You’re all invited to my concert in Tel Aviv,” JLo (as she is known around the world) informed Israeli fans last week in a video backed by the strains of her 2011 hit song “On the Floor.”
By EMMA MCAVOY, REBECCA ARATENJENNIFER LOPEZ brings her Vegas-like extravaganza to Tel Aviv.(photo credit: Courtesy)
In a summer with big-name artists from Bon Jovi to J Balvin descending on Israel, Jennifer Lopez might be the closest to pop-star royalty we’ll see this season.“You’re all invited to my concert in Tel Aviv,” JLo (as she is known around the world) informed Israeli fans last week in a video backed by the strains of her 2011 hit song “On the Floor.”The pop icon will be arriving with a 100-person crew, including dancers, instrumentalists and technical staff hauling 45 tons of equipment for the August 1 show at Hayarkon Park.Lopez’s Israel show will come at the end of a 25-show “It’s My Party” tour that kicked off June 7 to celebrate her 50th birthday this year. She will then go on to perform once in Russia and four times in Europe. This is her first world tour in seven years, and it’s an extravaganza, featuring choreography and an elaborate set design as a backdrop for JLo’s wide range of material, including her new song “Medicine,” a collaboration with American rapper French Montana that was released last week.At her show earlier this week in Philadelphia, Lopez didn’t seem like a 50-year-old as she dangled above the stage in a gleaming, giant tambourine suspended from a multi-tiered chandelier of champagne flutes “in ludicrous Las Vegas fashion,” reported The Philadelphia Inquirer.“Decked out in a nude-colored, bedazzled number that threw light like a disco ball – ‘It’s a birthday suit,’ the diva quipped demurely as she offered fans a slo-mo 360 at the foot of the stage – she opened with ‘Medicine,’ supported by an octet of shirtless male backup dancers who sashayed through their choreo gripping white sousaphones.”Lopez has sold 80 million records in her two-decade career, and has had 16 top-10 songs and three number-one albums, in addition to being a top movie actress. There were reports in both 2012 and 2016 of Lopez shows in Israel but they failed to materialize.Promoter Marcel Avram – who brought Leonard Cohen, Metallica, Bob Dylan and Justin Bieber to Israel – was finally able to nab the star, whose upcoming appearance in Israel has not gone unnoticed.A number of pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups joined forces for a “JLo Don’t Go” campaign. The effort included a petition asking Lopez to “open [her] heart to Palestinian children and cancel” her show in Tel Aviv.“Code Pink,” a self-described “social justice movement” launched a petition that pointed to JLo’s past humanitarian initiatives with Amnesty International and her eponymous Lopez Foundation, which seeks to provide women and children with improved access to medical care.
“If you follow through with your August 2019 performance in Tel Aviv, you will be giving Israel a green light to continue human rights violations against Palestinians, including imprisoning and killing children, denying families sufficient clean water and medical treatment,” the group wrote.While JLo herself did not respond, her fianceé and former baseball All-Star Alex Rodriguez voiced his excitement over his visit to Israel. “I’m going to Israel, so I am so excited, it’s my first time,” the former New York Yankee said in an interview last month with the New York Post.JLo’s Israeli fans seems to be just as excited.“I waited so long and so long for this moment that she would come to the Land of Israel!” one fan posted on Facebook. “Soon!” and “I can’t wait!” were common posts about the upcoming event. “My dream!! Jennifer goddess of my youth,” wrote one excited fan.Excitement has surrounded Lopez ever since she starred in the 1997 film Selena, a biopic about the iconic Latina singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez who died in 1995. JLo received a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal and became the first Latina actress to earn $1 million for a film. She went on to become the highest-paid Latina actress in Hollywood before launching her music career in 1999 with her debut album, On the 6. With her second album, J.Lo, and a star turn in The Wedding Planner, she became a household name around the world.Lopez was the first Latin woman to win a Grammy Lifetime Achievement. In 2018 she appeared on Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people. It’s been a long journey for Jenny from the block, and now it’s headed for Tel Aviv.
