Nineties refugees flocked to hear "Barbie Girl". It was the best party in town - voila! culture

The best party in town.

The Expo complex, last night (Photo: Omri Silver)

The retro shows are a phenomenon that has gained great popularity in Europe in the last decade.

Their idea is quite simple: several stars of the past, usually from the eighties or nineties, come up one after the other, perform their hits - to the delight of the audience who treat the event as a kind of party, which sometimes slips into public singing.

Participants perform only their biggest hits - even if they only had one hit.

It may sound cynical, but it's insanely fun.

For the first retro show coming to Israel, under the title "We Are the 90s", five artists were invited.

Names that Israelis remember from the nostalgic Hitman collections: the British boy band Five, which today, embarrassingly in relation to their name, are a trio;

British soul-dance singer Sonic, who is remembered from the hit "Feels So Good";

groundbreaking Dutch technopop band 2 Unlimited;

Nigerian dentist turned Swedish Eurodance star Doctor Alban;

And from the pop field - the Danish band Aqua, who in 1997-98 were among the most successful bands in the world.

The audience knew the songs by heart.

Five, or actually Three (Photo: Omri Silver)

The expo complex in the exhibition grounds was completely full for the event.

The crowd, as expected, consisted mostly of nineties graduates, meaning 30 to 50 years old, although younger guys were also seen.

It felt like the best party in town.

The best thing to do on a Thursday night.

The show began with a video of all kinds of things and iconic events from the nineties, and at the end the three remaining members of the Five band took to the stage - which was superbly designed - and performed their greatest hits.

The audience was crazy, and it seems that Five themselves were surprised to find out how big they are in Israel - with many in the audience knowing all the words to the songs by heart.

Actually, it's not that surprising: Five performed in Israel twice in real time, in front of tens of thousands of fans.

Like Five, the other performers of the evening also appeared here in real time.

The British Sonic who came up after them even thanked the Israeli audience for being there for her in the beginning.

She sang her three hits and walked off the stage.

We were for her at the beginning of the road, but unfortunately there was no real continuation.

More in Walla!

For me, love is already a pass: Eric Berman speaks

To the full article

Doctor, save him.

Dr. Alban, last night (photo: Omri Silver)

After Sonic came 2 Unlimited.

The singer was replaced by someone else, and only the rapper Raymond Sligard remained from the original lineup - and in fact the show is his.

They also did all their hits, but not everything was at the same level.

"No Limits" blew the expo to the ceiling, but the performance of "Get Ready for This", was bad and lowered.

In the meantime, even during the breaks between the shows there was great fun, with the reception of the radio broadcaster Yaron Ashval, accompanied by clips from real time that they created for good reason.

Dancers and drag shows also appeared between the shows, including a fine and entertaining tribute to the Spice Girls.

Something else amusing, or maybe actually sad, was the fourth show.

The veteran Dr. Alban took the stage and seemed out of focus.

Not oriented, muttering.

Although he had quite a few hits in real time, he only performed four songs on stage, including his hit "It's My Life" twice, and left the stage shortly after.

The audience snickered, but it was a little uncomfortable.

The highlight of the evening.

Aqua band, last night (Photo: Omri Silver)

The highlight of the evening was the closing show, that of Aqua.

Unlike all the previous artists, who sang live with the music recorded in playback, Aqua turned out to be a serious band.

Eight musicians took the stage, including a keyboardist, a drummer, a guitarist, a bassist, two backing singers and of course the well-known vocalist and vocalist.

Their performances were very good, including the moving "Turn Back Time", the perfectly done "Doctor Jones" and of course "Barbie Girl" which was the highlight of the evening.

After this song the crowd started to leave the place, even though Aqua gave another song after it.

The first nineties festival in Israel can be summed up as a great success: the presence of the audience, the organization, the design, the video, the tapes, the dancers, the merchandising, the intermissions and the shows themselves were mostly very good, and there is definitely room for another show like this.

What's more, maybe next time you should also combine Israeli nineties shows with the foreigners.

Surely with a high five and a mango in the middle, it could have been an even more perfect evening.

• culture

Tags

• aqua

• Tu Unlimited

• Five