At 7:30, she started playing to a nearly empty hall, as the crowd who came for Keane were either of the "let's get there later so we don't have to sit through the opener" type, or were Wall Street mooks who were there but would rather spend time in the lobby musing about who they screwed over during their workday while pounding over-priced, watered-down RCMH cocktails, and buying $30 tour shirts from a band who they've heard were cool from a girl a couple cubicles down at the office, but not actually heard yet.
Her songs are both deeply personal and kinda goofy all at once, which is an irresistable combo to me. One of her songs starts with the line, "Remember the time I found a human tooth walking along Delancey". Great, right?
Anyway, her voice in the huge quiet (at that point, anyway) room was totally beautiful to hear. It was mostly just her and a piano, though she accompanied herself later with a drumstick played on what looked like an endtable, and then an electric guitar which she claimed she couldn't really play, though she sounded just fine to me. She's got a style that is equal parts Kate Bush and Billie Holliday, but wholly original.
She sang her final song acapella, to a mostly attentive crowd patiently waiting for Keane to arrive on stage. Fearlessly, she hit every note and held the entire hall in her hand as most people were amazed at all the sound coming from just one girl on stage. As she neared the end of the song, one of the aforementioned mooks, who obviously had one "cranvodkawithnoice" too many, yelled out something along the lines of "hurry up and finish"...to which Regina calmly substituted the words "fuck you" for the usual lyrics she was singing, which put the knucklehead in his place promptly and garnered a rousing cheer from the rest of the crowd.
I can't wait to see her play a full set in a smaller place.
As for Keane, they were very.......pleasant. Their record is a good one, but not really the kind of music I need to witness live. They sounded very much like the album, except they tried WAY too hard to make it all look exciting. The keyboard player was an absolute spazz, even during slower numbers, and I just felt sorry for him feeling like he had to do so much clowning. Whatever, the soccer moms and the goofy dads from Staten Island in jean shorts, and the boozy suits with their dates in two-years-ago trucker-hats loved them.
Regina Spektor media player is here.
Download Regina's songs "Somedays" and "The Ghost Of Corporate Future" at Scenestars.
Fuzzy Lion hated Regina and agreed with me about Keane.
Ruvym's Rant was indifferent about Regina, loved Keane, and nearly got puked on at the show.
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