Regina Spektor - Wednesday 4th July 2012 - O2 Apollo, Manchester


I consider Regina Spektor one of the first musicians that I discovered for myself. It was when I was eleven or twelve years old, and I'd just gone into high school, that I was really starting to find music for myself, not just from other people. There had been the pop music my friends listened to, and my dad had always played me his favourite records - Queen and Fleetwood Mac and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, but when I heard Regina Spektor's "Fidelity" on a TV show and went to listen to more of her music she joined Paolo Nutini and Scouting For Girls in the first music that, to my younger self, was really mine.

Last night, at the O2 Apollo in Manchester, I went to see Regina Spektor play for the first time, kind of in a madcap rush after only planning it a few hours before.

Spektor opened by walking onto the stage and calling out a vaguely surprised "Hi!" to the audience; the old converted cinema almost completely full. She stood still and began singing, "Ain't No Cover", completley acapella, tapping the microphone with her fingers for percussion and, other than that, her huge and powerful vocals carried the melody. And throughout the night, when she played piano and when she was accompanied by the drummer, cellist and keyboard player that made up her band, her voice was what led the music, never drowned out or lessened.

Because she doesn't just sing, her voice is an instrument in so many ways - she plays with it, makes drum noises for percussion, adds whispers and draws gasps for breath.

Highlights included the lively and thoughtful "On The Radio", playful "Dance Anthem of the 80s", songs from Regina's new record, especially "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quittez Pas)" and some of the slower and more pressing songs, like "Eet" and "Blue Lips". She sang "Call Them Brothers", a duet with Only Son/Jack Dishel, who played guitar and had opened the show for her. He's also her husband.

After "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quittez Pas)", Regina Spektor apologised to the audience and said that she'd hurt a bone in her throat - this had been going on for a few songs, and she went off stage to see what was wrong, in which she told the crowd, "Talk amongst yourselves about something interesting." There was a kind of hilariously awkward ten to fifteen minutes in which everyone waited for an announcement, how serious things were or whether the rest of the show would happen.

But after a wait, Spektor came back, playing a further six songs. Earlier in the show someone had been calling out for her to play "Fidelity", to which she replied that she hadn't rehearsed that one, muttering, "I write them, I forget them..." So when she played those opening chords of "Fidelity", a cheer erupted.

She closed with "Samson", which was so stunning and soft and left, taking an elegant bow.

Regina Spektor's hands dance with the piano. She's kooky and bright as the melodies and the lyrics she writes, and I can't help but say that everything about her dreamy yet ladylike persona reminds me of a Disney princess.

She still has some dates to play on her European tour, and her new record, "What We Saw From The Cheap Seats", is absolutley brilliant.

My Trip to the Cinema Alone

Today I did something I've been wanting to do for a really long time: I went to see a movie on my own.

The idea of it started a few weeks back, because I was discussing with one of my friends whether or not going to see a movie alone is "cool", and decided that it most probably is (because it shows you're interesting, and interested in what you're doing and it's quiet and nice.)
Then, last weekend, I went to see The Dilemma with all of my teenage girl friends. I'd really wanted to go and see Black Swan, which everyone had decided would be too scary, and so we settled for a romantic comedy type thing which I quite enjoyed, it just didn't fill what I'd left the house hoping for. After the movie ended, I talked to my friends about whether I should go see Black Swan now, alone (it had started ten minutes ago, but adverts). Most were kind of mutual/mildly shocked that I was considering doing this, one in particular discouraged me, "Bleh, you'll look like such a loner, you can't go to the cinema twice in a day, you'll get fat!" (?!)
I didn't go then, but the fact that someone had told me I couldn't go to see a movie alone made me want to do it. It made me want to do it MORE.
I couldn't get the idea out of my head. Today I woke up without much to do, schrumped around until 11:30-ish when I decided something needed to be done. I googled it (using my phone, internet was broken, hence boredom) and Black Swan was starting at 1 o clock. I could make it, just.
I walked briskly into town, feeling excited and almost a little proud of myself for leaving the house using only willpower, and made the bus just in time. I like riding the bus with my friends, but sometimes I like there not being voices around me, and especially when there aren't people my age there who I'm not with. The only people who saw me were old ladies, not watching me disaprovingly because of R&B music blaring from a mobile phone but thinking, "Isn't that nice? A quiet, respectable teenage girl who probably won't rob me. And that book she's reading, "Neverwhere" looks interesting, I'll google Neil Gaiman when I get back to my bungalow."
Anyways.
I got to the cinema and queued up to buy my ticket, I asked for a ticket to Black Swan.
She said, "Black Swan is a fifteen."
"I'm fifteen," I said.
"Do you have ID?"
And this made me angry: not that she was questioning my age, because fair enough, I'm not fifteen for a month and I wasn't wearing very much make-up but because she'd asked if I have ID. Of course not - I don't have a driver's licence, no real fifteen year old's parents would allow them to leave the house with passport, birth certificate ect. There must be a better system. So then I was like "Myeh, fine."
She almost went on to serve some 10 year olds behind me, but I booked a ticket to The King's Speech and then went to the next counter and got my nachos.
I actually liked it a lot. Collin Firth, Timothy Spawl and the actress who played the Queen Mother whose name I don't know were all brilliant, as was the King's speech therapist Lionel. Parts of it made me feel so good, sometimes patriotic and sometimes just happy. It made me laugh and smile, no part of it was too dark, and unlike most historical films, I never felt like I was missing out on anything because my knowledge of the time period is vague. Maybe that's because it didn't rely on it too much, maybe I'm just starting to learn stuff more. Yay for "Rebecca" and GCSE History?
And I liked the experience. I love my friends but sometimes in the cinema I feel quietly embarassed when they talk loudly in the adverts (I probably do so too when I'm with them I think) and adults judge me and I almost want to apologize. It's not us, it's just being in any large group of girls generates a lot of clutter and noise.
My throat started hurting so I got iced tea on the way home.
And to summarize, in self defence, I've done it and going to the cinema alone is cool. You should try it. I may even go back and re-attempt Black Swan next weekend.
I'm kidding.
...

Also I got a cold, felt tips and an idea all within the last few days
If anyone follows me on Twitter, know that Bob is fine now. Another cat bit him and the vet had to cut into his side, which he moaned about a lot and had to have two other vets hold him down, but he's better now and just having to take a lot of antibiotics. He only has a bald patch on his side which I think he's worried will ruin his cool (if kitties can be egocentric, Bob is). Callie and Sandy wander around sympathetically and lick his wound, if he'll let them. It's happy.

Seeing as I've mostly just talked about myself today, here is someone who's music I started to fall for when the song "Fidelity" was on a TV show called Mistresses (which I'm getting to writing about one day soon, I promise). Regina Spektor is so, so awesome. She plays piano, her voice is lovely and her songs are sometimes happy and playful, like "Dance Anthem of the 80s" sometimes and melancholy and nostalgic like "The Call" or sometimes just plain awesome, like "On The Radio" which is one of my favourites (videos for "Fidelity and that one are both brilliant).
"This is how it works,
It feels a little worse,
Than when we drove our hearse,
Right through the scremaing crowd,
While laughing up a storm,
Until we were just bone,
Until it got so warm,
That none of us could sleep."

That's all for today. Have a nice week/few days and stuffs. :) .

- lizzie