Regina Spektor played to a sold out crowd at QPAC on Anzac Day. Charley Traynor reports.
For a Russian-born New York-based former classical music student, she sure knew a lot about Anzac Day; which endeared her to the adoring crowd that much more.
Her piano playing is truly inspired and beautiful to witness however she certainly doesn’t pigeon-hole herself to just one medium.
Spektor sang acapella about how different eyes of different boys say different things which had the crowd quietly chuckling.
She also played guitar to “That Time” which is quite possibly the cutest song ever written.
Her backing band was comprised of the members of Jupiter One, who were also the support act, which kind of ruined their somewhat initial charm.
Not to say Jupiter One weren’t good musically or lyrically but they did so much self-promoting in their opening set it was hard not to roll your eyes when they took to the stage as Spektor’s backing band.
Even she got in on promoting them which sorry to say, was kind of an overkill considering Jupiter One front man K Ishibashi must have said their band name, where to find them and the fact they’d sold out of ‘merch’ in Perth about half a dozen times.
However, Spektor’s talent shone through most of the awkward stage banter that went on and she played songs from most of her albums, including quite a few from her latest offering Far.
Her songs are smart, funny and thought provoking and to see her play live was surreal in that, she doesn’t really use any fancy tricks on her albums so when she plays live, it doesn’t sound that differently, save for her sometimes mumbling inaudibly into her mic between songs.
When she came back for an encore after initially closing with “Fidelity,” the crowd screamed in approval as she launched into “Samson.”
There’s no doubt Spektor is talented and so adorable you kind of want to put her in your pocket so she can sing in your ear, but it was hard to tell if her shyness and supposed self deprecation were real or put on to make her more accessible to fans.
Photo: Getty Images/Getty Images Entertainment/Mary Schwalm
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