Image by Laura Leebove
Regina Spektor in Chicago, May 13, 2007
The New York singer seduces Chicago with cherry-red lips, giggle fits, and a wooden drumstick
By Laura Leebove & Lori Finkel
Published: May 16th, 2007 | 11:26am
A plush snake wrapped around her neck, Regina Spektor batted her lashes and giggled bashfully into the mic, beaming at the sold-out Riviera Theatre in Chicago on May 13, 2007.
Spektor opened with a throaty, a cappella version of “Ain’t No Cover,” tapping the rhythm firmly on the mic. Her makeshift beats, driven by the triple espresso she downed just before the show, were a trend throughout the set, which lasted about the combined length of her albums Soviet Kitsch and Begin to Hope. In “Poor Little Rich Boy,” one hand slapped a drumstick on a wooden chair while the other held steady chords on the black grand piano. She then echoed herself in the call-and-response part of “Aprés Moi” and bellowed orgasmic noises in the end of “The Flowers.”
The Russian-born, New York-raised songstress played several numbers that threw off the crowd, including a cover of John Lennon’s “Real Love” and a song about not trusting someone with blue eyes — because the eyes are like her own. But in the dark, it doesn’t matter if your eyes are blue or brown, polka-dotted or plaid, she sang, because they all look the same. Then, at the May 14, 2007, in-store performance at Borders on State Street in downtown Chicago, she performed a new song called “Man of a Thousand Faces,” which was well-received by the hundreds of fans crammed into the store’s third-floor music section.
Part of Spektor’s charm — whether crooning to a packed theater or a more intimate venue — is her graceful quirkiness. After singing about sipping soapy water, she belched in “Music Box,” but maintained her sex appeal at all times, enticing the audience with her flirtatious demeanor and juicy, cherry-red lips. Her music, ripe with stories of love, pain and heartbreak, channeled the jazzy torch singers of the 1940s, Billie Holiday and Ethel Merman, as did her modest knee-length black dress cinched in at the waist with a wide red belt.
Spektor paused her set to pay homage to her Russian-Jewish heritage, urging fans to see Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre’s rendition of The Diary of Anne Frank, a play she said is difficult, but important.
After ending with “Summer in the City,” Spektor returned for a five-song encore that included an a cappella duet with the opening act, Only Son, who beat-boxed as Spektor sang “Hotel Room.” Spektor could hardly keep her composure as the song broke into silly fits of her giggling at the mop-topped solo guitarist from New York, whose real name is Jack Dishel.
Much to the happiness of everyone around her, the obnoxious girl yelling “Samson!” was appeased as Spektor sat down at the piano to perform her final song — a beautiful but expected finale to a captivating show.
Issue #35
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