Sia dedicated a performance of “Titanium” to survivors of the Nova Music Festival caught up in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel during the 2024 Anti-Defamation League’s In Concert Against Hate event on Monday night in Washington, D.C.
Before singing the song she originally recorded with David Guetta, Sia declared from the stage of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, “We will dance again,” as Nova Festival survivors Ofir Amir, Danielle Gelbaum, Tomer Meir and Daniel Dvir came to her side after the performance.
Gelbaum, when first introducing Sia, told the Kennedy Center audience: “Her music gave me the opportunity to know that I will dance again, and I am dancing again, and tonight we will dance again.”
The ADL event also saw Eden Golan, who represented Israel at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, sing the original version of “October Rain.” Golan performed a rewritten version of the song, titled “Hurricane,” during Eurovision after the original lyrics were flagged for containing political references.
Ben Stiller, who hosted the event, called for hope in battling rising antisemitism. “Tonight, we’re going to battle hate with a healthy dose of hope. This organization and the brave people we’re honoring have all taught us that, even in the darkest times, there’s light,” Stiller urged.
Speaking with JewishInsider on the blue carpet before the event, Stiller said times are “frightening” amid increasing antisemitism.
“It’s something I never thought I’d experience in my life,” Stiller said. “I grew up pretty sheltered from that in New York City. Right now we have to be positive and work toward unifying together, reaching out to people we disagree with and calling out hate when it happens.”
The hope over hate message was also delivered by music mogul Scooter Braun, who was honored by the ADL for his efforts in bringing the Nova Music Festival Exhibition to U.S. audiences. Braun recalled the 2017 Manchester terrorist incident during an Ariana Grande concert he produced where 22 people were killed.
“Innocent people dying at a music event is wrong,” he said during the ADL event. “These Nova survivors have given me the greatest gift, because my whole life, I was taught never again, never again. And something shifted since Oct. 7, something changed after I met these kids, because they live by this mantra, ‘We will dance again.’ So I hope you’ll understand I’m done saying what I’m not going to do. I’m done saying the negatives. I want to say again and again and again and again, we will be strong again. We will be proud again. We will dance again and again and again.”
Blair Underwood, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer and former RIAA CEO Cary Sherman also attended the event. Other ADL honorees included Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, Dr. Charles L. Chavis Jr. and Rosette Goldstein, who received the Kay Family Award; and Noa Fay, Luda Isakharov and Einav Tsach, who received The Levenson Family Defender of Democracy Award.
The first ADL concert was held in 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust.
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