All By Myself

Regina Spektor, onstage yesterday at Lollapalooza, brings her warbles to Virgin Fest this afternoon. (Jeff Gentner/Getty Images)

Stage fright? Regina Spektor? Um, no. The Russian-born, New York-based singer-songwriter wandered onto the vast expanse of the main stage alone but oozing confidence, and immediately began singing a cappella -- her voice full, rangy and completely entrancing. As far as cold opens go, this one was pretty hot. It was also courageous given the size of the crowd and venue.

Spektor never did bring out a band, instead providing her own accompaniment -- mostly piano, on which she played supple melodies with odd meters. All the better to showcase her vocal quirks, as Spektor tends to spike her humorous, sharply rendered character studies and narratives with yelps, warbles, moans, chirps and glottal stops (as on her unlikely hit, "Fidelity"). She also sang a little bit in Russian.

The only problem with Spektor's set is that her music is, perhaps, too pleasant and easily digestible. While that's helped her become a hit among Hollywood music supervisors, it made it too easy for people to talk over her performance here. Their loss.

-- J. Freedom du Lac

By Jen Chaney |  August 5, 2007; 2:40 PM ET  | Category:  Sunday's Festival
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