You can't keep Regina Spektor down.
Though it wouldn't have been understandable to cancel her free-to-festivalgoers appearance at the Tribeca/ASCAP Music Lounge on Tuesday, she decided to play hurt. “In my defense, I did get injured at the Tribeca Film Festival,” she said, after hobbling onto the stage, favoring her left ankle. Spektor fell down the stairs after a screening of “The War,” joking that she probably did “serious damage” but didn’t seek medical attention.
“I’m in denial,” she said. “I’m just icing it.”
Trooper that she is, Spektor’s performance didn’t suffer at all, pulling out gorgeous versions of "Fidelity," "Samson" and even the appropriate “Bobbin’ for Apples” for the occasion, putting extra emphasis on the line, “I’ll always opt to fall down these stairs in the end.”
She did buckle a bit after stomping and drumming her way through "Poor Little Rich Boy." "I almost made myself pass out with a broken ankle," she said, afterwards. "See, I'm such a --- baby."
"Toughen up," she told herself. Then, she did.
SETLIST: On the Radio / The Flowers / Better / Poor Little Rich Boy / Apres Moi / Bobbin' for Apples / That Time / Fidelity / Field Below / Samson