After 23 Years, Tel Aviv's Barby Club Is Moving to Jaffa Port

After 23 years at the corner of Kibbutz Galuyot and Herzl streets in Tel Aviv, the Barby club is leaving its longtime home and relocating to the redeveloped Jaffa Port. The move closes a major chapter for one of Israel’s best-known live music venues, which hosted a long run of local and international performances and was closely associated with its outspoken and controversial owner, Shaul Mizrahi.

The piece marks the transition with memories from musicians who have played there over the years and with concern that the new site may not preserve the club’s distinctive, imperfect charm. The farewell comes at the end of a period that began in 2000 and lasted through 2023, making the venue a constant presence in Tel Aviv’s music scene for more than two decades.

One example of Barby’s role in shaping performances came from Asaf Amdursky, who said that about a year ago he approached Mizrahi with an idea for an electronic show built around his songs in updated arrangements. Mizrahi answered briefly and firmly, “No.” Amdursky, a major figure in Israeli music for 30 years who has appeared at Barby dozens of times, first considered taking the show elsewhere, including the nearby Gagarin club.

Instead, he asked to meet Mizrahi and later explained the reasoning he heard. Mizrahi told him that no two Amdursky concerts are the same, which makes the artist hard to recommend to others because the next performance may be entirely different. Amdursky said this kind of response reflects why he chose to listen to Mizrahi rather than dismiss the refusal.