Singer Bruno Mars. Photo: Screenshot

American pop singer Bruno Mars took to the stage in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night for his first ever concert in Israel, where he sang “I love you” in Hebrew and performed an Israeli song in honor of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

“They told me [there would be] ‘70,000 people’ — that don’t sound like 70,000. We gotta do it again! I said Tel Aviv! ” Mars told the crowd that gathered in Park Hayarkon, encouraging them to make noise before he thanked them for coming to watch him and his band, The Hooligans, in the sold-out show.

“We’ve heard stories about this place. They told us they dance over here; they sweat over here,” the Grammy Award winner added. “We’ve waited a long time to come out here and play for ya’ll. We want to see ya’ll moving and dancing.”

Throughout the night, Mars performed some of his biggest hits including 24K Magic, Finesse, originally a duet with rapper Cardi B, and Treasure. During the song Calling All My Lovelies, Mars held a prop phone in his hand and said in Hebrew, “Honey, I’m in Tel Aviv.” He then repeatedly sang into the phone “I love you” (“Ani ohev otach”) in Hebrew. Also during the show, which took place during Sukkot, Bruno had his keyboardist play the Israeli children’s song Shlomit Bonah Sukkah and the audience sang along to the Hebrew language track.

Before diving into Just the Way You Are at the conclusion of the concert, Mars told the audience that he and his band would love to come back to Israel “very, very soon.”

“You guys have been an incredible crowd,” he said. “I’ve been warned about y’all. I hope you guys had just as much as fun as we did. Thank you guys so much.”

Israeli singers Agam Buhbut and Mergui were the opening act for Wednesday’s concert, and Yasmin Moalem joined in for a duet of the song Tsunami. Mars’ second show in Tel Aviv is set for Saturday, and tickets for both concerts sold out mere hours after they went on sale. Israeli singers Netta Barzilai, who won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, and Eliad Nachum will be the opening act for Saturday’s concert.

Mars, who was born in Hawaii, has Jewish roots by way of his Puerto Rican-half Jewish father. The singer also has a grandparent of Hungarian and Ukrainian descent who was reportedly a Hebrew teacher.

Mars ignored pressure by supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel to cancel his two concerts in Israel. He also previously asked the Israeli producers behind his two Tel Aviv concerts to donate leftover food and beverages from the show to the homeless and needy Israelis. He landed in Israel on Tuesday after a show in Tbilisi, Georgia, and is expected to perform in Qatar after his concert on Saturday.