Moments before going on stage at the House of Blues June 12, Ivri Lider was surfing his smart phone for an update—of game six of the NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat.
There was no luck for Lider, but the popular, openly gay singer was still all smiles—and the 500-plus who attended were cheering and singing throughout his two hour concert that featured songs in English and Hebrew.
Lider, who performed June 11 at Pridefest in Milwaukee, headed home to Israel June 13.
“I really want to spend some time here [in Chicago],” said Lider, who has had two concerts in Chicago over the past four years. “This looks like a really nice city and I hope sometime soon I get to come back and spend more time.”
Lider was at Sidetrack on Sunday night after his concert.
“Pridefest was nice, but cold,” he said. “There was a nice response, nice stage.”
Lider—who is currently dating a man from Germany—said the majority of his fans in Israeli are straight. “What I really enjoy is performing in front of straight people, gay people, young and old, everyone together just enjoying music, enjoying the words [in the songs] —and I think everyone can enjoy the songs,” he said.
He has recently just finished producing an all-English album, recorded in England, “and it’s a very band-y album, with a lot of live bands.”
Photo by Ross Forman