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Regina Spektor - Manchester Apollo - December 3rd 2009
"Fuck, I don't know what I'm doing, let me start again" says the American-Russian songstress to a crowded theatre in Manchester Thursday night. The songstress is the one, the only Regina Spektor, and the theatre is Manchester Apollo.
The crowd is buzzing with excitement and two men behind me are both discussing how much the want to marry the woman who's not yet arrived on stage, but it may be the beer talking.
As the lights dim and the band ensembles on stage, Regina walks out. With a smile and a wave she sits at the piano and opens the show with "The Calculation" the opening track on her most recently released album, Far. Eeet, Folding Chair, and Ode to Divorce are also amongst the first few songs she sings. And just like that Regina dishes out one song after another, occasionally smiling and shyly thanking the crowd, but for the most part not speaking at all.
Regina's set list is a mix of old and new songs. The only difference, her older songs, usually including her voice, a piano and sometimes a drumstick on a chair have now grown and developed along with her career. Her sound is still unique, quirky and all her own, but has matured and become a tad more refined, and a bit more piano-popish if you will.
Gone are the days when Regina sat at an old piano in some smoky bar banging away with a drumstick on a chair. Her music has grown and matured with her, but is still distinctly Regina Spektor's sound. So as the floor lights turned on and Regina waved and left the stage, it was clear that everybody in that theatre would have married Regina Spektor there and then. And I don't think it would been the beer talking.
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