"I boarded the flight without knowing if I would arrive. There was no way I was giving up"

The event held last Thursday at Quest was supposed to be relatively simple: a long back-to-back set by Darco and Raphael, who would play together all night long — at an event for which all tickets were sold in advance. However, hours before the doors opened, following the chaos at Ben Gurion Airport, Darco found himself stuck in Milan without a flight to Israel and without a way to reach the event. Mita Gami, his close friend, immediately stepped in to replace him and play alongside Raphael. But after an almost impossible journey, Darco landed in Israel at 03:03, arrived at Quest at 03:43, and two minutes later was already pressing play. The three played together until the morning hours, in a rare encounter that almost never happens.

Darco's journey began back on Wednesday, when he flew to Ibiza to play at a Rumors party, the famous line by Guy Gerber. After he finished playing, he returned to the hotel and managed to sleep for only about half an hour before leaving again for the airport. "I had a flight from Ibiza to Milan at 9:00, a landing in Milan, and then another hour and a half flight to Israel. I was supposed to land in the country at 16:30. Everything was organized and planned, I took the fastest connections possible. There wasn't much sleep, but I had to get to the country."

The flight from Milan to Israel was already ready for takeoff. Darco and the passengers boarded the plane, boarding was completed and the doors were closed — and then reports began to arrive from Ben Gurion. "People on the plane started talking about the strike. I told myself it didn't concern us, I put on headphones and just wanted to take off. After 10 minutes of us sitting on the plane, when the doors were already closed, suddenly the captain came out and took the microphone. I took off the headphones and heard that due to the event at Ben Gurion, the takeoff was being delayed by an hour or two. They asked us to take our luggage and return to the gate because they didn't want to leave us on the plane."

The passengers were told that it was only a temporary delay, but as the hours passed, it became clear that the situation was much more complex. "We returned to the gate, sat for about two hours, and by the third hour, people were already starting to lose it. The news in Israel started to explode. Around 4:30, I heard shouting and realized something was happening, even before I received an official notification from the airline. I realized the flight was canceled, I took the trolley and flew out."

From here, a race against time began. Darco went over the flight board and identified two options: a flight to Cyprus at 18:00 and an El Al flight to Israel at 20:00. He ran to the ticket counters, but discovered that there was no room left on either of them. "I came to buy a ticket for El Al and there wasn't one. Not in business, not in anything. I wanted to buy a ticket to Cyprus and there was no room there either. I looked at the flight board and said: 'I'm fucking stuck in Milan.' We activated all relevant connections, agencies in Israel and abroad, private planes, really everything. I don't like asking for help, but I felt that now I had to. I activated friends and businessmen I know, and everyone stepped up to help."

The option of arriving by private plane was also thoroughly checked, but was taken off the table due to the difficulty of bringing non-Israeli planes into Israel. Around 18:30, after hours of attempts, Darco began to realize that the chance of reaching the event was disappearing. "My heart broke. I felt feelings I hadn't felt in a very long time. It's true that it wasn't my fault, but in the end, it's my event. People came for me, I planned it, imagined it, and did everything to make it happen. I spoke with Aviv (Aviv Dahan, one of the event's producers) and we tried to understand how to tell the audience that I probably wasn't coming. I was crushed there in Milan. I didn't answer anyone who wrote to me. I was crushed, brother, crushed."

At the same time, the event staff turned to Mita Gami (Amit Agami) and asked him to come to Quest and play alongside Raphael. Mita Gami did not hesitate for a moment. "We spoke with Amit, and he immediately stepped in to help," says Darco. "He said: 'Of course, whatever is needed, I'm with you.' Amit and I are good friends. Everything was in fog and uncertainty, we didn't know if I was coming or not, and he just went with it and came to help."

In the evening hours, Darco identified a flight from Milan to Athens that was about to depart at 19:30. He bought a ticket at the last minute, even though he didn't have a seat on the flight from Athens to Israel. "I said that at least I would advance a little. I bought a last-minute ticket to Athens and did the security check again. I checked flights from Athens to Israel and there was no room. I didn't want to reach a situation where I fly to Athens and then get stuck there too, because everyone was in a crisis and all the flights were full."

A friend who was in contact with a travel agent found two possible flights from Athens to Israel, by Arkia and Aegean, but both were full. The recommendation he received was to board the plane to Athens anyway and hope that a seat would open up at the last minute. "I was already after the security check. I had to decide if I would continue to the terminal and board the flight to Athens, or leave the airport and stay in Milan. I didn't know what to do. The security personnel already started to pressure me and told me that I couldn't stand there. I told them that I had a situation and that my flight was canceled. In the end, I said: 'Fuck it, whatever happens, happens. I have to get to the country.' I boarded the flight knowing there was a chance I would get stuck in Athens."

Only after he had already sat down on the plane did he receive a message from the travel agent: a seat had opened up on the Aegean flight from Athens to Israel, which was expected to land at Ben Gurion around 03:00. Within seconds, she ticketed him and sent him the boarding pass. "I landed in Athens and ran. What do you mean ran? I passed people, climbed on counters, ran with the trolley and flip-flops. I had to leave one terminal and get to another. It was like a movie. I arrived on time and boarded the flight. I didn't care about anything anymore."

The flight landed at Ben Gurion at 03:03. Even there, every minute was critical, and in this case, the fact that the plane connected directly to the jet bridge and did not drop the passengers off to a bus was on his side. "Lucky we weren't on a bus and connected to the jet bridge. We landed at 3:03, around 3:20 I got off the plane, and at 3:40 I was already at the club and pressed play. It was a space journey."

Almost at the same moment that Darco arrived at Quest, Mita Gami also arrived at the place. Instead of Mita just replacing him, he joined him and Raphael in the booth. Thus, from a planned back-to-back set by Darco and Raphael, a triple rare encounter of the three leading artists from the Maccabi House home — the label of Mita Gami and Adam Ten — was born. "The craziest thing is that Amit and I arrived at the club at exactly the same moment," says Darco. "We entered the booth together and the rest is history. He originally came to help and replace me, and in the end, joined us to play to give something more to the audience. It was supposed to be an open-to-close of mine and Raphael's, and in the end, Amit joined."

The event was supposed to end at 06:00, but Darco felt that the audience, who had waited for him throughout the night, deserved more. After a conversation with the club management, it was decided to extend the event by an hour and a half, and the event continued until 07:30 in the morning. "I felt it wasn't fair to the audience. We talked to the club and extended the event by another hour and a half. In the end, everything is for the audience and it was important to me that people get what they were waiting for. We played until seven-thirty in the morning, it was amazing and it was crazy."

Throughout the hours when he tried to reach Israel, Darco updated the audience on social media that due to the strike and the chaos at Ben Gurion, it was unclear if he would manage to arrive. According to him, the amount of support he received was extraordinary and provided him with the strength to continue looking for a solution. "The support I received on Instagram and in messages was simply not normal. I was in shock. It gave me the strength, there was no way I was giving up. In the end, luck, God, and the energies were with me."

Only after he stepped down from the booth, almost a day after he left Ibiza, was Darco able to process what he had gone through. "I didn't understand what was happening at all. It took me a moment to contain it, and only when I finished playing did everything land on me. I broke down a little and let go. My heart was crushed, but with time another piece reconnected and another piece, and in the end, we managed to do it."

Alongside the relief, excitement, and success, Darco emphasizes that he and the event staff also intend to learn from what happened and from the complaints of some of the revelers about the crowding at the event. "We will of course draw conclusions for the next events to do it better. The audience is always number one and it is very important to me that they are satisfied. In the end, we do it for the people. I really appreciate everyone who came, danced, enjoyed, supported, and sent messages. That's what gave me the strength to arrive."