Regina Spektor @ The Orpheum

[music | Pixies - Cactus]

Natalie and I have seen Regina Spektor 4 times now in Boston. First opening for Dresden Dolls at Lupos in Feb '05, then a small show at the Paradise lounge in late '05 or early 2006. Then it seemed like she got real popular all at once, which is great. Last year about this time we saw her at a packed Avalon (~2000 people), and then tonight at a sold out Orpheum (cap 2750).

I love that she keeps getting more fans, and she is just as loopy and silly as she was with 100 people at the Paradise show. We've never been to a show where she hasn't messed up at least a couple of songs and gone all sheepish. We've always loved her beatboxing and stomping out her own rhythm section, and she's just way too cute for her own good.

Opening for her, again, was Only Son. This time it was just the lead singer (Jack Dishel) with no band, but with an iPod and MP3's of the rest of the band. I don't know if it was just more polish on his show after a year, or if it was because I wasn't in indescribable pain this time, or even if it was the lack of having gin-skank slobbering booze all over my back (source of my pain), but I actually liked him this time. He had a good schtick with the audience and even playing over the iPod worked out pretty well...until someone in the audience came out on the side of Team iPod, then I think he got kind of jealous.

I don't think they made any impression on me one way or the other last year.

The Regina set was just her with a piano, which I think I do prefer over the band approach she had last year. It wasn't that the band was bad, it was just that we were used to seeing just her with no accompaniment, and it feels a lot more intimate that way. She's getting much better at playing the guitar as time goes on, and she even did a song with Jack of Only Son as beatbox accompaniment, which was just awesome.

We were in the 4th row, so of course I didn't even try to take any pictures with my phone, knowing from prior experience (Chris Cornell), that 4 rows is WAY too far away for a RAZR to make a decent photo. There were plenty of people around us with cameras (why do I EVER listen to "photo policies"?), so as I see them pop up on Flickr, I'll update this with photos.