Regina Spektor
Old Roman Amphitheatre, Caesarea, Israel
August 24

It’s impossible not to be gripped by the weight of history when visiting Caesarea, a 2,000-year-old site of vast Roman ruins on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Today, upscale restaurants and artist boutiques sit between the ancient brick walls, but nowhere do historic and modern twist together more effectively than Caesarea’s, 4,000-seat, Old Roman Amphitheatre.

The venue was a huge jump for Regina Spektor, who played Tel Aviv’s mid-sized Barby in 2009, yet the show was sold out. Spektor’s husband Jack Dishel and his band Only Son opened the evening with some powerful, if not completely original, rock’n’roll. It was a drastic contrast to Spektor’s first song: “Ain’t No Cover,” a plaintive ballad of Spektor’s signature-staccato vocals and her fingers thumping on the microphone.

“I’m a little bit in shock to be [in Israel] again,” said Spektor, her eyes roaming around the huge amphitheater. “This is the oldest place we’ve ever played.”

Considering the looming chance that any act will cancel last minute due to political pressure, Spektor was beloved by the crowd for not just showing up, but for doing so passionately. Having grown up a Russian-Jewish immigrant in New York who attended Jewish day school, Spektor often addressed the crowd in Hebrew. When she stood stage center and sang “Eli Eli,” translating to “My God, My God,” the crowd was silent, stunned. Also known as “Walking to Caesarea,” the song was written by Israeli icon, WWII hero and Nazi victim Hannah Szenes. The lyrics beg God that beauty and hope never cease.

The setlist ran through Spektor’s career from old favorites like “Us” and “Sailor Song” to “All the Rowboats,” “Eet” and the gorgeous “Blue Lips,” through her staple “Fidelity” and her latest, the upbeat “You’ve Got Time,” which is the theme song to the new TV hit, “Orange is the New Black.”

The most integral part of Spektor’s music – more than her piano – has always been her personality, shining through her songs in off-beat, intensely personal lyrics, vocal twitches and her penchant for slipping into other languages. In the seafront setting, the stage draped in blue light, that voice and personality was a revelation: unbelievably clear, fluid and shimmering.

By the time she closed with crowd favorite “Samson,” Spektor wasn’t another singer who stopped in Israel after a European tour. She was another immigrant in a country made of them, who had something beautiful to say.