KEY POINTS:
Regina Spektor hobbles on stage with a cane and launches into her first song, accompanied only by the tapping of her finger against the microphone.
And that's all it takes. The Russian-born, New York-based singer - best known in New Zealand as the voice behind those kissy-kissy X meets Y ads - has the crowd captivated for what might as well be a night on Broadway.
Whether it's her arresting voice, which soars from husky depths to clear, chanteuse heights, her fine fingerwork on the piano or her delightfully funny personality, Spektor is a one-woman variety show.
She's also mad as a hatter. Her left arm floats theatrically up and down at the keys as though dancing as she speeds up, slows down, drops her voice an octave, strangles words mid-song as though gagging, clicks her tongue, claps and giggles girlishly under her breath.
Her music ranges from the beguilingly beautiful to the downright wacky, like Kate Bush, Bjork and Lily Tomlin in a blender.
On upbeat songs such as Better and Fidelity, she's pure pop star. When she straps on her electric guitar to play That Time, forgets the words, swears out loud and starts again, she's a self-possessed punk. And when she gets stuck into the grand, Chopin-like piano arrangements on Apres Moi, she's both a concert pianist and a refined torch singer.
But what makes this performance special is her eccentric sense of comedy, which is really only hinted at on her acquired taste of an album, Begin to Hope.
Whether declaring repeatedly in the chorus that "Mary-Anne's a bitch!" singing a sweet tale about returning a stranger's wallet or performing her tongue-twister ode to religion: "All-the-non-believers-they-get-to-eat-dirt-and-the-believers-get-to-spit-on-their-graves", Spektor's songs are a platform for her loopy personality to shine.
The cane, which isn't acknowledged until the second half, becomes part of her act as she limps around. She claims she sustained her injuries during a koala-killing spree in Australia, but actually she'd just had a hip operation.
Even the encore is a hoot. She's joined by her support act and boyfriend Only Son (who performed an equally amusing set with broken guitar strings). He provides the beatbox accompaniment to Hotel Song as she half sings, half stifles a laugh over the top. Well worth the standing ovation. Respekt.
