The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli Sia concertgoers are filing a class action lawsuit against for approximately NIS 8 million (or around $2 million) in “nominal reparations” to attendees. Among the various complaints mentioned in the newspaper, the most amusing is that “even the live vocals felt impersonal, as the artist never once addressed the crowd, mentioned what it was like to be in Tel Aviv, or bantered in any way.” Yes, this is, in part, a lawsuit over too little banter.
The lawsuit was originally reported as being filed against both the singer and promoters Tandi Productions, though Ilan Elkayam, the CEO of the company, stressed in IQ that “to the best of [their] knowledge, the claim was not submitted against Sia herself.” He, himself, has not yet received the claim, either. He said, however:
We wish to emphasize that the performance was extremely successful and we have received hundreds of comments from satisfied fans who thoroughly enjoyed the performance and the production.
The apparently banter-less concert took place on August 11 at Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv. There were also complaints — among those who didn’t “thoroughly enjoy” the concert — about the projections not being a recording of the performance they were seeing, but rather a series of pre-recordings featuring the likes of Kristen Wiig and Gaby Hoffmann. (Which seem, for the record, to be the same ones she toured with elsewhere, sans lawsuit.)
One fan told the Times of Israel that people “felt cheated” because “the live show was an imitation of the recorded show and included actors and dancers who never set foot in Israel.” He continued, “She just stood there during the whole performance, toward the back of the stage and didn’t say anything other than ‘Thank You’ when the show was over.”
Among other complaints were the length of the concert (65 minutes), that no new songs were played, that no alterations were made to the old ones for performance, that the show lacked energy, and seemingly — at least according to the Jerusalem Post article — that wigs obfuscated connection with the audience. Which, you know, kind of goes with the Sia territory.