More ordinary than strange: Noa Kirel presented a perfect show, but we almost fell asleep from boredom

I really want to wholeheartedly congratulate Israel's representative for Eurovision 2023 who put on a visually impressive show with wonderful sound, crazy lighting, impressive arrangements and a production that does not put any international show to shame - and yet, we would be wrong to say that this show was as good as it could have been.

Review

Salon associate

25/08/2022

Thursday, August 25, 2022, 08:00 Updated: 08:16

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share by email

• Share in general

• Comments

  Comments

Noa Kirel performs the song "Pouch" in a live concert at Yarkon Park, Tel Aviv, August 24, 2022 (lyrics: Noa Kirel, Ron Biton, Yordan Peleg, Itai Shimoni and Doron Medley; photo: Noa Kirel PR)

Noa Kirel's huge show in the park can be defined as a "coriander show".

Some people, certainly the many fans who filled the concert hill, will praise it as one of the most amazing performances ever seen in Tel Aviv, certainly by an Israeli artist.

Others will say it's a joke.

The truth, as in many of these polarizing cases, lies in the middle.

So yes, I really feel like congratulating Israel's representative for Eurovision 2023 from the bottom of my heart, who put on a visually impressive show at the level of the Champions League, with wonderful sound, crazy lighting, impressive arrangements and a production that does not put any international show to shame - and yet, it would simply be a sin to say that this show is as good as it could be to be.

As far as the "wow effect" is concerned, Noa Kirel managed to get a lot of points even before she went on stage.

Many of the tricks and shticks have been seen before in other pop shows abroad, so what? It's pop. No one expects her to reinvent the world of shows, but to find her comfort zone within this world. In this sense, in front of 30 thousand spectators at the first big show In her career - Noa Kirel, only 21 years old, can mark a great victory over all the haters in the fact that this performance worked smoothly, without any glitches.

But a music performance, even pop, cannot be satisfied with just a huge show.

And here we need to stop for a moment and look at the list of songs that Noa performed last night in the park, alongside four numbers performed by her guests, and ask: does this "repertoire" even justify such a large and expensive performance?

In a word: no.

In two words: absolutely not.

This is especially noticeable in Noa's songs in English, which supposedly are supposed to make her an international star, but actually sound like they were farted out of a mediocre and generic pop song generator.

It is no coincidence that these songs mostly caused yawns in the audience.

Also hosting the American singer Gail as a kind of attempt to present Kirel as an international superstar who nonchalantly shares a stage with a singer from abroad (a patent registered in Israel in the name of Aviv Gefen) felt mostly like a strange opportunity to present Kirel's vocal disability alongside a more talented singer.

A performance cannot be satisfied with a huge show.

Noa Kirel in concert at Yarakon Park (Photo: Omri Silver)

Noa, a superstar by any standards, the first Israeli woman to open a box office in Yarkon Park, still looks small and exposed on the huge stage.

It's not because she lacks talent, but mostly because she lacks experience

It's hard to complain to Noa Kirel (only 21 years old, did we already say?) that she is not polished enough on the big stages, but it is possible to wonder if it is the right career move to skip performances in small and medium places and jump straight into this rare world of Park Yarkon.

Few Israelis who have performed in Israel in front of such an audience: the Hive band, Shalom Hanoch, Omer Adam, Eyal Golan and a few other individuals have managed to attract such a large number of people to their performance - but they did it after burning up smaller stages.

Noa, a superstar by any standards, the first Israeli woman to open a box office in Yarkon Park, still looks small and exposed on the huge stage.

It's not because she lacks talent, but mostly because she lacks experience.

This is especially noticeable when she brings guests on stage, those who would not even dream of performing in Yarkon Park if they had not received an invitation from the headliner.

Stefan Leger, Osher Cohen and Shahar Saul were able to be on this stage for a few moments only thanks to Noa Kirel.

They also got to sing their solo songs while she went to change her outfit.

It could have been cute in an intimate performance at the Barbie, but when artists (and relatively anonymous ones) are thrown on stage in front of an audience of 30,000 people - some of whom paid 400 or 700 shekels for the pleasure - it's a bit strange.

It should be noted that the crowd cheered for the guests no less than for Noa - and especially for Ilan Peled, who joined the final number and stole the show with a "Does Pois" suit that drove the crowd crazy.

More in Walla!

Watch: Before her big performance in Yarkon Park - Noa Kirel is moved to tears

To the full article

Strong smell of inexperience.

Noa Kirel in concert at Yarakon Park (Photo: Omri Silver)

There is no price for experience, and Noa has no experience at Park Yarkon just as she has no experience at Yad Eliyahu, Barbie, Tzvata or Tamune Theater.

Her audience knows her mainly through screens.

He gave her likes on Instagram, watched her dance on TikTok, and bought a pair of glasses or shoes because she advertised a brand.

It's not the same as coming and performing your music in front of an audience and building yourself as a performing artist.

introduce new songs, hear the reactions, fail, succeed.

Fine tuning your style.

The main thing is to try.

How important it is to try in this business.

The result is a performance with many mediocre songs and below, and I'm being very gentle here, which are performed robotically and without emotion by someone who currently falls more into the slot of a song presenter than a singer, one who doesn't stop sponsoring brands even while singing.

Kirel hardly spoke to the audience, and the little she said felt scripted and known in advance - and certainly not from the heart.

Even the great excitement of performing in front of 30 thousand people was spared from the audience.

During the song "I Love You" she shed a tear, but even that felt premeditated.

To Kirel's credit her delivery was absolutely spot on.

She sang without playback and didn't fake it even once - but rather her connection with the audience felt fake.

It's easy to spot a fake when you see it.

When thousands began to quickly abandon the Golden Ring area (which is almost criminally huge in size) even before the evening's hits stage, it was understandable that these were mainly people who had come to celebrate the concert in question of the summer, and nothing more.

In this sense, it seems that both sides took advantage of each other and got what they wanted.

Still looking small and naked on stage.

Noa Kirel in concert at Yarakon Park (Photo: Omri Silver)

The result is a performance with many mediocre songs and below, and I'm being very gentle here, which are performed robotically and without emotion by someone who currently falls more into the slot of a song presenter than a singer, one who does not stop sponsoring brands even while singing

On top of all of this, we must add the fact that the production of the show probably did not understand who the target audience is that wants to see Noa so much - and these are mainly boys and girls.

The goal may have been to brand Noa Kirel as the Israeli Beyoncé, but still in the crowd you could see thousands of children, some of them carried on the shoulders of their parents.

It was a lovely picture, which led to the fact that the atmosphere in the grass was a bit like a show of confused Yuval that for some reason started at nine in the evening.

A day after another NK, Nick Cave, stopped his show in Rishon LeZion to talk to a boy named Idan in the audience - and then dedicated the song "O Children" to him - it was hard not to feel sorry for Kirel who simply did not consider the huge mass of children who were so enthusiastic To finally see her outside of YouTube. You don't need to be a stage artist on the level of Nick Cave for this, it's enough to go to any performance of Hanan Ben Ari and see the connection he makes (and is made) with the young audience at his shows.

The choice of song order also reeked of inexperience, with all of Kirel's biggest hits (with the exception of Pouch which opened the show, and in retrospect was also his highlight) crammed to the end of the show.

After 70 minutes of performance and three different outfits, Kirle stepped up with "Million Dollar" - one of the impressive numbers of the evening, accompanied by a dance troupe that wouldn't put Justin Bieber or Dua Lipa to shame.

The momentum continued with a string of "I want you", "Ambulance", "Half crazy" and then reached a peak with "Ilomans" - one of the best pop hits of recent years in Israel.

They didn't understand who the target audience was.

Noa Kirel in concert at Yarakon Park (Photo: Omri Silver)

Then, after ten minutes of banger after banger, Noa got off the stage and left the stage for a recording set by Itai Gallo that no one asked for.

Some of the audience stood uncomfortably, many took advantage of the unnecessary pause for a toilet break, or simply decided to cut home

Then, after ten minutes of banger after banger, Noa got off the stage and left the stage for a recording set by Itai Gallo that no one asked for.

Some of the audience stood uncomfortably, many took advantage of the unnecessary pause for a toilet break, or simply decided to cut home.

It is unclear how there was no one in the large team surrounding Noa to warn her that this was a bad idea.

Kirel returned to a nine-minute long encore, in which she squeezed in four songs.

"Bell", "Three Girls", "Dale Promo" and certainly "Trilly Tarella" (full disclosure: my choice for song of the year last year) deserved more, certainly when much less uplifting songs were given full and tedious performances throughout the evening.

"Yarkon Park, thank you for an unforgettable evening, I love you," Kirel said without an iota of familiarity and got off the stage.

As if there was a singer from Nashville who came to stay in Tel Aviv for a few nights and had to memorize the name of the facility where she performs.

Many were waiting for her to return, but befitting her superstar branding, she apparently already made her way in a vehicle accompanied by a police motorcycle convoy out of the park area, while the band was still playing on stage in front of the audience that paid hundreds of shekels to experience her.

Without an iota of familiarity.

Noa Kirel in concert at Yarakon Park (Photo: Omri Silver)

Noa Kirel receives a lot of compliments for the long way she has come.

Hats off to her for her persistence and hard work.

In this sense, it is a good role model and inspiration for the children of Israel (and I write this without an iota of cynicism as a father to two young Kirel fans).

She should be given all the concessions she rightfully deserves for all the milestones she made until the age of 21. The young age, the charisma, the built-in girl-power - all to her credit - and needless to say again that she has great talent.

Maybe bigger than we realize.

She has an authentic groove, personal charm and considerable singing potential.

Some of these things were reflected in last night's show, but we expected a much more "strange" and much less "normal" performance from a panthera like Kirel.

The distance between "regular" and "boring" is very small, someone like Noa knows that.

Now it's time to also ask what she wants to be when she grows up, because the very casual pop expressed in most of her songs is not going to impress anyone in America.

And for the avoidance of doubt: those who think that Douz Poa will flow from Britain towards Jerusalem just because of Noa's charming smile are going to be very badly surprised.

• culture

Tags

• Noa Kirel