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Filtering by Tag: Regina Spektor

Live Recap: Regina Spektor with Allison Russell and Elizabeth Moen at Out of Space

August 03, 2023  /  Rachel Zyzda

The annual Out of Space festival returned to Canal Shores Golf Course in Evanston, IL and ANCHR attended the third day of the fest with headliner Regina Spektor. 

Chicagoan, via Iowa, Elizabeth Moen warmed up the Saturday crowd with a solo set. Moen gave me a little bit of Stevie Nicks vibes. Maybe even Riley Keough as Daisy Jones, who was inspired by Nicks. She dedicated her third song of her set “Songbird” to Allison Russell, who Moen told the crowd inspired her to start writing and performing. 

Speaking of Allison Russell, she and her band—or “goddess circle” as she called them, played the second support set. Russell had a very zen, meditative introduction but the pace quickly picked up and Russell got to show off her soulful, powerhouse vocals. Her vocals gave me full body goosebumps, and I was so impressed with the chemistry between her and her bandmates. They truly seemed like they were having the best time on stage, which was infectious and put a smile on my face.

For the main event, Regina Spektor took the stage just as the sun had gone down. The night prior, there had been a torrential downpour, so Regina told the crowd she had an urge from “Jewish grandmothers” to tell the crowd to wear good shoes that day to deal with the mud. 

Another joy of the show taking place outdoors was that there were lots of trees. Spektor joked about that as well, saying she’d asked for less reverb during sound check and was told it was “treeverb.” Still, her vocals sounded incredible and the golf course had surprisingly good acoustics to show off her expansive vocal range. Spektor’s vocal talent remained on display for the entirety of the show, but she played her song “Baby Jesus” early on in the show, which highlighted her ability to go from deep, low vocals to quippy falsettos in just one song.

Spektor is obviously known for her spectacular talent as a pianist, but she was able to mix in percussive elements for some of her songs as well. For the song “Better,” she used a drumstick and a chair as makeshift drums. From start to finish, Spektor kept us all completely enthralled, which is quite the feat for a fully solo performance. Towards the end of the show, Spektor followed up her hit “Fidelity” with a dedication to the late Sinéad O’Connor and a performance of “One More Time With Feeling” before wrapping up with the song “Samson.”

See photos of the entire show below, and stay tuned for coverage of Andrew Bird at Out of Space the following night.

categories / Reviews, Photos, Music, Gigs, Festival
tags / Elizabeth Moen, Allison Russell, Regina Spektor, Out of Space, SPACE, Music Festival, Photography, Live Review, Live Recap

Live Recap: Regina Spektor's Return to London at Royal Festival Hall

July 19, 2023  /  Rachel Zyzda

It’s around 8PM on Saturday night, July 15th and singer-songwriter Regina Spektor has just taken the stage at the pristine Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre. A seated auditorium sitting just along the River Thames, the venue had a stern air of formality about it, but Spektor quickly lightened up the mood by asking the audience “Can we just pretend we’re at a basement pub and chill the fuck out?”

I wasn’t quite sure what type of energy to expect from the musician playing a solo show (her first show in London in six years), but her opening statement quickly lightened the mood and set up a tone for a relaxed show as she began to play her song “Folding Chair” to follow up her introductory performance of “Shalom Aleichem” (a song centered around the Hebrew greeting meaning "peace be upon you.”)

Early on in the set, Spektor also let the audience know that she’d recently suffered a back injury, but a friend of hers had helped her recover from the injury enough to push on with the shows. Considering she was injured and carrying out these shows with just herself, a microphone and her piano, I figured the show might lean on the shorter side, but Spektor dazzled the audience with a nearly two-hour performance that featured songs from across her long discography.

Spektor’s stage presence was a beautiful balance of a rehearsed performance mixed with the casual nature of friends jamming together—similar to the laidback vibes of a basement pub gig. When she messed up a part of the piano (to be honest, I wouldn’t have even noticed the slip if she hadn’t called it out), Spektor told the crowd “I practiced! The hotel people are probably mad at me [from practicing so much]. We’ll just skip that part!” She also told the audience she was going to try her song “Somedays” even though she wasn’t confident in it, but she managed to play it successfully. Afterwards, Spektor joked that she felt like a “kindergartner with a finger painting.”

While she may have jokingly minimized her craft, Spektor continued to enchant the audience with her sweeping vocal performance and dynamic manner of playing the piano; there were times her vocals were theatrical and times that she’d hammer on the top of the piano or clap to add a percussive element to her melodies. The crowd joined in on the clapping for those moments when makeshift drums were needed.

Speaking of crowd participation, around half way through the show, Spektor told the audience that standing up and squatting made her back feel better, asking everyone, “Will you guys get mad if I do three squats?” She invited the crowd to join her, and myself and the majority of the audience stood up to squat along with the singer. “I think the pub became a gym,” Spektor joked.

To give herself a break from sitting at the piano, Spektor stood up to perform a couple of light-hearted A capella songs “Reginasaurus” and “Silly Eye-Color Generalizations.” Another non-piano moment included a surprise guest appearance from musician and producer Leo Abrahams, who joined Spektor to play a few songs on guitar.

Eventually, Spektor wrapped up the main part of her show with her huge hit “Fidelity,” which she introduced saying “This one I should know in theory, but theory and practice are different.” That may be true, but she knocked the performance of the song out of the park, earning a standing ovation from the entire auditorium at the end of the song.

Spektor returned for a single-song encore of her song “Samson,” also on her 2006 album Begin to Hope.

If you missed out on the show, check out photos from the performance below, and see where you can catch Regina Spektor on tour near you here.

categories / Reviews, Photos, Gigs, Music
tags / Regina Spektor, London, Royal Festival Hall, Live Show, Live Review, Live Recap, Photo Set, Concert Photography