Good that you came.
The spurs model 2023 (photo: Orit Panini)
Well, the year is 2023, and how to say it: disco is here again.
That is: the porcupines are here again.
The cult band that flourished in the early 2000s with a host of amusing musical parodies of genres that existed and were lost in time, has since become a part of nostalgia itself.
And here, as part of the extensive wave of reunifications of the past year, the spurs also announced a return to the stage, almost 15 years after the disbandment.
When the Porcupines came on the scene some twenty years ago, they seemed like strange birds: the unapologetic grooviness, the deliberately ironic archaism and all that happy nonsense.
For a moment, it seemed that she asked first of all urges, not always successful, and only then songs.
A late listen does the band a favor: not only were their parodies elaborate, invested and self-aware, they also preceded many artists who came later and tried to imitate a 40- and 50-year-old sound;
And of course, the simple thing, so rare in Israeli music - pure fun - that is the true hallmark of the Porcupines.
It's not that there wasn't a little bit of hidden melancholy: if you scratch a little above the surface you find that, like other creators with humor in Israeli music, like Danny Sanderson for example, the heroes of these songs are often sad and lost characters - that's how it is in the song "I don't feel like hearing" , to choose a representative example.
And yet, the smile hovers over the band's three albums.
We went out dancing.
Mezig and Gluska on stage, last night (photo: Orit Panini)
A good metaphor would be disguise, an idea that well explains both the musical essence of the spurs and the content.
Those losers in the songs dress up as flashy partygoers, but somehow always end the night alone.
In one song, "On this Purim", this idea is even expressed: the impoverished man is insecure even in a costume, and his dream is to dress up as a macho cowboy;
The words, melodies and arrangements are disguised as those from other times (but it is always clear that this is only a disguise).
In any case, last night - not one of the overly smiling days of the State of Israel - the band reunited for the first time at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv: Itai Gluska, the brothers Eyal Mazig and Guy Mazig, Ido "Zigo" Ofek and Ron Almog - the hard core of the Porcupines - arrived armed with keyboards and brass instruments .
There were no gimmicks, no guests, covers, new songs or surprises of any kind - nor was there really a need.
There was only the net repertoire of the band (plus one song from Guy Mazig's solo career), about 20 pieces over an hour and 40 minutes with one goal: to make the audience move their ass and move their pelvis.
The audience responded: who dances, and who sings who still remembers all the words.
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The disco is coming to town.
The porcupines, yesterday (Photo: Orit Panini)
The band actually took time to get started and shake off the rust and pressure, or just the struggle of the years that took their toll.
In the first five songs - this part opened with "The disco is here again", of course, and also included "La Pogham" which was received with almost surprising applause - the group on stage hardly called back, and it didn't seem like they were able to enjoy the event at all.
But then, before "Another Night" - perhaps the best of the band's songs - something started to open up.
A few jokes on stage invited more jokes, smiles appeared on the faces, and suddenly chemistry appeared - that spice that makes some musicians more than the sum of the different parts.
That was the beginning.
Two songs ahead, before "Everything you wanted", Guy Mazig took the floor.
It's a song about love, he explained, and tried to relate it to the fact that we need a little love with "everything that's going on."
Then he said something more interesting: "Probably the spurs always rise when escapism is needed."
This sentence, full of sincerity and free from self-importance or other pretension, received thunderous applause and at once released all the remaining heavy residue.
He finally freed the band from the formality of the evening and the need to prove, and the audience from what tormented him before the show.
From then on, in the second half of the evening, what remains is the same pure fun, and the years go to hell.
"Everything you wanted", by the way, the audience sings together powerfully.
This was also the case with other quiet songs such as "I don't want to hear", and also with "If you just talk" (Mzig, who was left alone on stage in this performance, jokingly began performing Shlomi Shabbat's "Aba" before turning to the song).
Another highlight came with "Did you know?", one of the best in the repertoire, which even received a small topical update in a line about the President of the United States.
Those who feared the aging of the humor can be fooled: this song is very funny today as it was very funny 15 years ago.
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The porcupines reunite after 14 years: "We received endless love, and now it's ripe"
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Let the years go to hell.
The porcupines, last night (photo: Orit Panini)
When they found themselves, the spurs sounded and looked wonderful on stage.
They sounded good and sharp, and celebrated on the instruments.
The solos were wonderful, and the spurs are generous with such.
There were, unfortunately, also several moments that got lost in the general noise - which is a matter when it comes to a band whose musical nuances are the name of the game.
Thus, alongside songs that worked excellently, other adaptations, such as "Ah, what a morning" for example, were swallowed up in the commotion and did not receive the respect they deserved.
Either way, without the encores, the spurs that flew towards the end of the show, with "I just wanted to check your engine" and "We went out dancing", not before another repetition of the chorus of "The disco is here again", and finally "Achla Bahala" - ending Requested for a strictly escapist evening, and so necessary.
Good that you came.
culture
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the porcupines