David Broza at Sultan's Pool

I had never been to an outdoor concert before and I had no idea what to expect. Having heard some of Broza's music (I only have his greatest hits CD) I knew he is an incredible guitarist, but I had no idea what to expect. I didn't spend any time wandering the art fair before heading down towards the amphitheater, we were hungry after Havdallah and needed grab a bite to eat before the show.

The Sultan's Pool Amphitheater sits below the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and is a large space that easily accommodates a large stage. We thought we needed to be there really early and as it turns out, it was a good idea to get there as early as we did. We got to stand incredibly close to the stage.

Not only was it awesome to be there with a good sized group of HUC students, with a guest appearance from Steph, the show was incredible. Sorry 311, I think you've just lost out to David Broza as the best concert I've ever seen.

There was just an intense passion on Broza's face as he belted out his songs in Hebrew and Spanish. Without taking much of a break from his showmanship, he played for almost two-hours. Keeping the crowd near me moving and entranced at the music he was making. It was incredible. Then there was the music.

I spent a lot of the show staring at his fingers trying to understand how me makes them fly across the strings with such speed and accuracy. At times It really looked like he wasn't even touching the strings his fingertips were flying across the neck so quickly. The band included a variety of other instruments ranging from a simple, wooden flute, saxophone, trombone, trumpet and violin. You could tell the group was having a lot of fun playing together.

The violinist also could dance. In her Flamenco shoes and very Spanish looking dress, Broza got up from his stool and gave her a lot of room. Then she started dancing. I commented to some of my friends around me that I hadn't seen anything that cool since the summer I was in Spain. She was fantastic at it. Broza clearly was having fun with it and danced with her and encouraged his bass player to do the same. They were just having a good time.



They finished off with a great song and a very extended ending complete with solos from every member of the band which was a lot of fun. Then the crowd continued to shout for an encore, which Broza happily obliged. I took some video of it, but we were too close to the stage and the bass overpowered the input on my camera. With the same enthusiasm of the rest of the night he told the crowd that we needed to be quiet so he could tune his guitar. After getting into a groove he concluded with the song Mitachat La'Shamayim (Under The Heavens). After playing to the crowd, Broza turned up the passion one more time and the song took on a new life of its own. It was absolutely insane.