Odeya Turns Ramat Gan Stadium Into a Pop Coronation

Odeya staged a major concert at Ramat Gan Stadium on Thursday night, drawing about 30,000 people and marking the biggest step yet in her rapid rise from small Reading Club shows to Caesarea, Menora Hall, and now a stadium-sized performance. The review says the event felt less like a routine concert and more like a coronation, with the audience rising almost instinctively before the lights fully went out.

Her opening was theatrical, with a one-minute countdown, a boxer appearing on stage, and Odeya entering in a flaming boxing ring, signaling a fight for her place at the top of Israeli pop. She opened with "Van Damme" and addressed the crowd as "Good evening, Ramat Gan Stadium," a line she could say for the first time as the local equivalent of Park Hayarkon.

The audience reflected the broad base that has made her unusual in Israeli pop, mixing religious and secular fans, people from Ashdod and Tel Aviv, adults and teenagers. Odeya also kept a direct relationship with fans, asking them to wear white, teaching a short dance for "Shoshu," and even jokingly scolding those who forgot it. When she asked if they wanted "Ma Itach Abba" or "Yalda Shel Emunah," the stadium roared back.

The article notes that June has been packed with large shows by Omer Adam, Eyal Golan, Oshar Cohen, Noa Kirel, Itay Levy and Eden Hason, but Odeya stood out for bridging different audiences and for avoiding the reality-show route. She performed as a fuller artist than in her Menora Hall concert about three and a half years ago, though the reviewer felt some covers, including songs connected to Agam Buhbut, Shahar Saul and a short passage from "Let Her Go," were unnecessary.

Odeya also brought guests Noam Batan, Gal Adam and Bar Tsabari, and said that after a recent conversation with God she came to understand, "He is a genius, how he does everything precisely." That experience inspired "Hashem Ya'azor," the title track of her new album, which also includes "Eser Ramot Ma'alav." The review concludes that she turned the Ramat Gan grass into a home stage and created a rare sense of belonging.