Music lovers fill The Barnacle for Avenue J

Left: Gil Gat; right: Distant Cousins

If you missed the Avenue J concert last week, you missed something special.  Over 700 music lovers filled The Barnacle grounds for this first-ever Alternative Jewish Rock Concert which brought bands from New York, Los Angeles, Israel and of course Miami. Classical rock to alternative, folk and indie were emceed by Channel 7's Rosh Lowe.

“The event met all of our expectations and that of the crowd,” said Rabbi Yakov Fellig, founder of Chabad in the Grove. “We were proud to present this first-of-its-kind event celebrating the full range of Jewish-inspired music to Coconut Grove and South Dade .”  

The Avenue J headliners, The Gat Brothers, came straight from Jerusalem: The Washington Post and Associated Press have covered these reality TV rock stars Ari and Gil Gat, Orthodox Hasidic Jews who perform classic rock standards such as “Hotel California” and “The Sound of Silence." Their appearance at Avenue J was their first appearance since their success on “Rising Star," the Israeli equivalent of “American Idol." 

Local sensation Aaron Holder added an incredible flair to the event with amazing tunes ranging from reggae to folk to rock n’ roll. 

Aaron Holder

Following their in-studio performance on NPR and WLRN in Miami this past week, Distant Cousins, a multi-layered collaboration of three musicians from Los Angeles, performed a number of their recent hits including those featured on CBS’s “Criminal Minds” this past December.  

Levi Robin of Brooklyn, currently touring and opening for Matisyahu, as well as Scoot Katz of ScitScat Music in South Miami, wowed everyone as well. 

“What we really liked was the variety of sounds and the way the audience responded,” Rabbi Fellig said. “There was everything from the latest cutting-edge alternative rock sound to some echoes of klezmer, for a total Jewish music experience.” 

Bet Ovadia-Chabad of the Grove is one of ten Chabad locations in Chabad of South Dade, which was founded in 1989. The temple is dedicated to the welfare of the Jewish people worldwide. Chabad of the Grove offers Shabbos services, Minyan, Torah discussions, and many study opportunities and exciting events.

Breslov Brothers.