Two words have followed Disturbed lead singer David Draiman since his visit to Israel last summer. The American Jew wrote “F**k Hamas” on artillery shells intended for use by Israeli forces in Gaza and shared the photos on social media.
The fallout has been extensive. Draiman was booed at the Black Sabbath farewell tour in Birmingham, while last week, a concert in Belgium was cancelled because the local mayor couldn’t guarantee the band’s safety.
Closer to home, Draiman got into an online spat with the fiercely pro-Palestinian band Kneecap and Irish-American actor John Cusack posted criticism of the musician on X.
Draiman’s band, as well as their guests, Megadeth, have been on high alert for the entire European tour. A list of reviewers and photographers from media organisations had to be approved by both bands at least 48 hours in advance.
RM Block
Other than that Mrs Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?
If this was a conventional review, Disturbed would merit at least four stars, possibly a fifth. The concert at Dublin’s 3Arena on Wednesday evening was in two parts. The first was a 25th anniversary of their debut album The Sickness, a nu-metal tour de force from an era when teenage dirtbags still bought albums and played them from beginning to end.
The second half was a greatest hits parade culminating in their improbable greatest hit, their version of Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence played in the centre of the arena on a burning piano.
Disturbed have a huge sound for a basic four piece of vocal, guitar, bass and drums. Draiman is the centrepiece of it all, prowling, cajoling and exhorting the crowd, never relenting.
An online petition to have the concert cancelled garnered more than 10,000 signatories, but such petitions are so common now they are hardly worth the paper they are not written on.
Against that, a near full-house of music fans at the 3Arena were willing to pay for tickets and all the ancillary costs that go with attending concerts.
Given the online commentary in advance, it seemed likely Draiman would be subjected to derision within the 3Arena. It was quite the opposite in fact.
Given Palestine and Gaza’s prominence in public discourse and online, it should be noted that a recent Ireland Thinks poll found 15 per cent of Irish people regard it in the top two of the most important issues they care about. That’s a lot of people, but so too is the 85 per cent who are not as exercised about it.
That much was apparent at Disturbed. “I have been looking forward to this show,” Draiman said before introducing the song The Light. “I have something that I need to remind everybody about. There are many people in this world who want nothing more than to pull us apart from each other. People fuelling their own biases and their own hatred trying to empower themselves by pitting us against each other.”
Draiman elicited a loud cheer when he said the band didn’t “give a s**t” about anybody’s politics. A lot of people care about his, but not those present in the 3Arena on Wednesday night.
His last word as he left the stage was “peace”.
