Regina Spektor
Serpentine Sessions, Hyde Park, Monday 29 June 2009
I should start by fessing up that I hate festivals, and while Serpentine Sessions is not exactly Glastonbury, it still has warm overpriced cider, burgers that taste like regurgitated dog meat (only less flavoursome) and appallingly pungent toilets. None of which — despite the glorious weather — boded overly well for the gig, and all of which were not what I expected from what should have been a slightly classier festival than most.
Cameraphones at gigs, how much do I hate thee? There seemed to be more than the usual number hoisted into the air to take blurred, underexposed, pinprick shots of the stage here, and I would have sold my soul for a license to shatter every LCD screen with a high powered sniper rifle. There also seemed to be more than the usual number of peculiar middle aged, middle class estate agents/bankers who not only knew every word to every song, but insisted on attempting to sing along with Ms Spektor. Much to my ears’ displeasure.
This all sounds rather negative, doesn’t it? Which is unfair, as the show itself was very good indeed — though I must confess that I think Spektor is at her best as a solo performer. I think that with a band (well, a cellist, a violinist and a drummer) she tends to veer more towards the pop end of her ouvre, which I don’t believe is her best work. I think her jazzier, more avant garde (read: earlier) style is what makes Regina Spektor unique, and I’d like to have seen a little more of it, but there’s no denying she can be truly spine tingling when she wants to be.
Overall, a thumbs up for Regina, a thumbs down for the organisers, I expected much better.
