my evening with regina spektor

as you all know, i was lucky enough to see regina spektor perform at el rey theatre in los angeles on tuesday, 28 july.

i was positively devastated when we weren't able to get tickets the day they went on sale. they literally sold out in seconds. don't get me started on the corruption that is concert-going in LA. it is absolutely ridiculous.

anyway, my friend scott knew that i was upset so he started trying to get me tickets through his goldenvoice connection the day they went on sale.

it looked like a lost cause, but on tuesday at 3:45, hours before the show, he called to let me know that he got me and levi in!

we showed up an hour before the doors opened, and it turns out we were on the guest list.

so not only did we get FREE tickets to a sold out performance to one of my top three favorite artists of all time, we didn't have to wait in the huge line, and we got to go in first. which means our location was killer.

we were literally as close as you could get, touching the stage, standing right where regina performed for the entire night. unbelievable. you don't have to tell me how incredibly lucky i am. believe me, i know. i was shocked at our good fortune.

her entire performance was absolutely magical.

{stars everywhere for samson - "the stars came fallin' on our heads"}

she is beautiful. she is adorable. she is sweet as pie.

she looked me in the eye multiple times throughout the evening.

{it's just me & regina...don't mind all those other hands and heads}

all i could do was stand in silent adoration with my hands at my heart and smile the entire time she was on stage.

i didn't even cheer. i couldn't. i just clapped and smiled.

she performed almost all of the songs from her new album, far, as well as a ton of older songs.

she was accompanied on stage by her drummer, two cello players, a violinist, and a viola player.

she sat at the piano for most of her performance.

she performed dance anthem of the 80s on the keyboard. she was nervous about messing this one up. she said she was rehearsing it earlier in the day. it was adorable. and she didn't mess it up one bit.

she also performed on her guitar and did a couple-few (one of levi's words) songs accompanied only by her musicians.

poor little rich boy was awesooooome. she beat the rhythm on a chair with a drumstick with her right hand, played piano with her left, and sang. so talented.

i can't pick my favorite from the night. apres moi is definitely up there. my eyes welled with tears multiple times, but they finally fell onto my cheeks when she performed us during her encore. i'm almost crying remembering it. it was so gorgeous. especially with the string instruments accompanying her.

ahhhhh, i wish i could go back. i wish i could close my eyes and vividly remember every detail of the experience over and over at any time i want.

it was such a special, magical, beautiful, surreal night. i feel so lucky and so blessed to have had this experience. and i'm so grateful that i had levi there to enjoy it with me.

here are two videos that i took to share with you all.

the sound isn't all that bad, and you can see how close we were.

*all the cheering, talking, and singing along you hear is NOT me. i'm not a big fan of singing along at concerts. that's what my car is for.

eet (unfortunately, it cuts off right at the end - sorry!)

on the radio (lots of singing along on this one)

i seriously wish you all could have been there too. it would have been so cool if that room could have been filled with us. and then maybe we could have all hung out with regina afterwards? yeahhhh.