Koby Israelite Band @ The Junction

Sometimes I wonder why they even bother with support bands. Take yesterday’s gig at Junction 2. With tickets priced at £10.00, you’d think even one band should be mad to play at a half-empty venue. But no. Enter Gipsydelica. Now I love rock and reggae and Gypsy and Balkan music. I like the idea of fusing it all together. Not like this though. I wouldn’t mind them playing for 20 minutes, but for one solid hour? They really should practice some more before being let loose on a live audience, however tiny. (Mind you, they even had a group of high-school-age girl fans, so I may be wrong here.)

And then, after a 30-minute break: Koby Israelite and the Band. In (much-quoted) words of Robert Pirsig,

even though Quality cannot be defined, you know what Quality is!

After first few notes, you know. No need to define. Is it klezmer, Balkan dance, art-rock or heavy metal? Who cares? All of the above and more: tango, Caravan, Khachaturian’s waltz, and so on and so forth. That’s The Quality with a big Q. Koby’s mastery of accordion is nothing short of stunning but I was no less impressed by the rest of the band, especially Yaron Stavi on bass and Oded Kafri on drums.