I’ve been a fan of Regina Spektor since my flatmate tipped me off to her a few years ago now – when he was running out to see her a small venue here in Manchester. How I wished I’d known about her in time to go to that gig.

Regina is one of the few artists who as far as I’m concerned doesn’t have a single bad song. Each one is truly stunning, with the older material being as good as – if not better than – her later albums. A real talent. I was excited when I was I was given tickets by my girlfriend, but a little worried that her voice wouldn’t sound anywhere near as good as it does on the albums.

I shouldn’t have worried though, she was incredible live… even better than her recordings. She even has a solo a cappella song – not something many artists would be brave enough to do nowadays.

If you’re not familiar with her music then I highly recommend that you check out her albums – not just the latest – of which most (though not all) are available to listen to for free on Spotify.

And if you have the chance, go see her live! You won’t be disappointed.

For those that aren’t aware there is currently a scheme in the UK to get more people under the age of 26 to go to the theatre. They obviously had a sit down to think about this, and they came to the same conclusion any group trying to get young people to do anything would come to, the tickets would have to be free.

There are venues up and down the country, but if you’re in Manchester it’s the Royal Exchange Theatre where they are giving away 50 free tickets at midnight. So, at the girlfriends behest I tried to get us a pair of tickets. I rang 44 times between 12 and 12:20. When I finally got through – they’d all gone. Apparently, they all went to people who had actually queued outside the box office in person. I guess that means it’s a popular scheme… so if you fancy taking it up, make sure you line up early.