I finally caught Aviv Geffen live a few weeks ago having followed him for well over a decade. Geffen was a somewhat controversial figure in his native Israel when he launched his career but proceeded to shake (and simultaneously shock) the national music scene, whilst providing a voice for his “fucked up generation“.
In the early ’90s the artist split popular opinion: his references to drugs, depression and alienation plus his occasional swearing didn’t sit comfortably with a section of the establishment. On the other hand, he was building a young following who worshipped his every move. Ultimately his rockstar posturing and androgynous looks may have raised eyebrows but his songwriting skills were slowly winning audiences over.
He was rumoured to be a self-centred, drug-taking diva but since I was coming from an outsider’s perspective I didn’t care for what the gossip press was spreading or what controversial statement he had made. All that mattered to me was that I liked his music and appreciated his way with words. At times his voice was less than note-perfect but he compensated for this with themes that caught my people’s imagination.
On the 4th of November 1995, Geffen rehabilitated his image in what-was-to-become tragic circumstances by performing a memorable rendition of his song ‘Cry For You‘ at a Peace Rally at a square in central Tel Aviv to a huge audience. Ironically, this night will forever be associated with the murder of Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin by a radical right-wing Orthodox Jew.
Geffen returned with a more mature outlook and reaffirmed his involvement in the pro-peace movement. He would later reference the events of that fateful night with the lyrics:
“They murdered peace in the square, I saw in my eyes how he ended there, and it turns out a religious man with no God, read too many signs, and even smiled at his arrest, when will you understand?”
Having honed his songwriting skills over fifteen or so releases Geffen has grown into one of Israel’s premier songwriters and has simultaneously achieved megastar status. Additionally, he found new directions to explore by collaborating with Steven Wilson (of the band Porcupine Tree) on the English language Blackfield project as well as uber-producer Trevor Horn on his own English language release.
This brings us onto tonight: Proud Galleries is an intimate little venue with a great sound but far from the 40 seater venues Geffen regularly sells out. How will his much documented ‘precious ego‘ cope?
Hitting the stage 30 minutes after his scheduled time the first thing that hits you when you see Aviv Geffen on stage is how slight he is; like a later day Ziggy Stardust there is no fat at all on his bones. The second, and perhaps most significant fact, is how humble he is on this new venture. Geffen is literally trying to win the hearts and minds of the audiences one by one on this short European tour and he is letting his songs do most of the talking.
Backed by a tight-as-fuck band, including Steven Wilson himself, they run through a set of his strongest songs, all performed rigorously in English, picking and choosing the best-suited tracks from his repertoire. A few of the Hebrew speaking people in the crowd try to encourage some banter but Geffen only speaks in English, conscious perhaps that he must not alienate any new fans he makes along the way.
tonight his vocals are spot on conveying all his emotions and even his slight Israeli accent is endearing. The perfect sound in the venue allows for the instrumentation to come across crisp and clear and Geffen is able to showcase his skills both on the guitar and the piano. Being the first (to my knowledge) Israeli singer to perform in the UK since the renewed Israeli-Palestinian hostilities means that the subject was inevitably going to be raised; Geffen shows his colours whilst introducing a new song:
“when we were recording this song in London i told Trevor Horn that I had to fly back to Israel to have some Arab musicians I know play on a part of this track. We recorded it over a few days and I flew back to London with the finished recordings. You see, when Israelis and Arabs work together we can do some fucking great things“
Aviv Geffen is far from the pompous primadonna that he is sometimes portrayed as but instead is a hard-working and charismatic artist bursting with stage presence. He ends the concert bare-chested, a visible peace-sign chain hanging from his neck, exhausted yet joyful from the performance he has just given. As he belts out his last song and anthem ‘Cloudy Now’ it becomes clear just why his fans have been yelling “we are a fucked up generation” for over a decade. Like the drugs, he sometimes references his passion for his music is addictive.
