Noa - Achinoam Nini

Review of Noa's concert in Amsterdam

About two weeks ago Marcel, my boyfriend Ron and I went to see the Israeli singer Noa in concert in Amsterdam. This concert was in the small hall of the famous Concertgebouw (well known for its incredible acoustics, especially for classical music), which holds about 350 people. It was sold out, we were lucky that we had tickets because we only found out about it a couple of days before. I was looking forward to seeing Noa and Gil Dor again, but I was also a little bit concerned about the announcement that she would "bring her band". The hall is much more suited for an acoustic concert than for a rock-band...Alas.
     There were more instruments on stage than the two previous times we saw her, including a drumkit, and indeed, Noa is a band nowadays. A four-piece band, with Noa (Achinoam Nini) on vocals, percussion and guitar, Gil Dor on all sorts of guitars, Zohar Fresco on drums and percussion, and Yossi Fine on bass guitar.
     She opened with 'U.N.I.' ("the Universe begins with you and I"), a new song we already knew from last year's concert in the Hague, and continued with a mixture of new songs and old favourites. She only played three tracks from Noa, two from the second cd, some concert classics (like 'Conga's' and a Yemenite song where she plays her chest as a percussion instrument), and about seven new songs. At first I was not quite sure whether I was happy with the new turn she's taken. In some cases I would have preferred the duo-setting for the older songs, the addition of bass and drums made it too heavy, and too much in the rock direction for me. Also I felt that Gil didn't have much chance to prove his ability his time. Some of the new arrangements for the older songs didn't seem to work out quite well yet, while most of the new songs (on Calling) really rocked. Still, the concert was great, and each new song had something that sounded very promising. But be prepared for a change of style if you're going to see her in the near future.
     During the concert she said something like that lately she'd been asking a lot of questions, inside, and that that was reflected in the new songs. Most of them are indeed dark, sad, some even angry--"he's so compassionate, so compassionate that I could freak" ('Lama'). I can see why they didn't include the cheerful 'Traces of love'--it wouldn't fit in with the mood.
     She only once sings in Hebrew, when she cries out "Lama!" (Why!)--a moment that sends chills down my spine, both during the concert and on the cd (Calling). (1996. by ectoguide)