new favorite song

unless you live in scandinavia somewhere, you probably can't buy this album yet, but once it's available you should get it. it's so good it makes my brain tingle.

cigarettes and empty bottles, empty bottles

The Beat Kitchen, Chicago. February 18, 2007
Teitur w/ Jenny Owen Youngs and Curtis Evans

I almost didn't go to this show. I was out until 2 AM the night before and I had to drive out to O'Hare at 4 AM the next morning. But I couldn't justify missing a chance to see Teitur as my last concert as a Chicagoland resident, so with my kickass concert buddy guru James alongside me we made one last trek into the city together for a show.

We were both exhausted from being out so late the night before, but the website said the opener started at 7:30, so we weren't figuring to stay out too late. Then to arrive at the show and see the openers wouldn't start until 8:30? That's all kinds of ass. The venue was dark and cold with black painted walls and ceiling, blue lights over the stage, and a low hanging dank cloud of cigarette smoke. The first opener was Curtis Evans. He's a local Chicago boy, and seemed to have his share of friends in the audience.

Jenny Owen Youngs was next, and she was incredible. She has a unique voice and sings brutally honest songs. She was also hilarious and interacted a lot with the crowd. At one point, James turned to me and said, "I think I'm in love." To which I replied, "Me too. If you don't marry her, I will."



At one point, that crazy bitch jumped off the stage right into the audience. I think I touched her ass. Nevermind. I just imagined that. She did play a rousing rendition of Nelly's "Hot in Herre" though. That wasn't in my imagination.

Also not in my imagination:


Seriously, take me to shows. I'll get the pictures you would never dare to ask for yourself. I should really hire myself out for things like this.

I took my chances to run to the loo between sets and ran into Dick Prall out in the bar area. I was really hoping to see him before I moved, so that was a total bonus to my night. I'm sorry Lynn, I did not get any pictures of Dick. I did see Dick. I did wrap my arms around Dick and give Dick a big hug. There's nothing quite as good as a random Dick sighting. I could go on, but now I'm just being dirty.

Of course, the real draw of the night was Teitur himself.



I'm the worst person in the world for setlists, but here's what I remember:

don't want you to wake up
sleeping with the lights on
amanda's dream
poetry and aeroplanes
lets go dancing
i run the carousel
thief about to break in
you get me
josephine
umbrellas in the rain
hitchhiker
guilt by association
louis louis
baby you don't ever have to see me again
i was just thinking



I'm certain I missed something. But such is life. If you ever get the chance to see Teitur in concert, please go. He's a fantastic performer with a really unique voice and sound.









Full flickr photoset here

I did get to talk to Teitur a little bit after the show. He's going to be doing some recording down in Australia and some mixing in Santa Barbara. So keep your ears peeled for news on a new record. Yippee!

every living being is a dancer

the first time i saw teitur in concert was in november of 2003, opening for glen phillips. i hadn't heard his music prior to the show, and i actually just found the first thing i ever wrote about him:


Posted: Sep 24 2003, 10:19 PM
they have been featuring this guy on mtv on those little "hear it first" or whatever they call it...anyways, the little 2 minute blurbs they do for mtv news at the end of the hour. he's this danish (i think? short term memory bad.) kid who does this acoustic songwriter thing. i liked what i heard, but that was something like one line from four songs. and gideon yago did his "i'm a big music snob, you all suck, i am the greatest geek gone cool EVER!" (sorry, issues.) and made a snide comment about teitur touring w/john mayer. that's all i know about this subject.

fast forward to 2006. after many issues with obtaining his american work visa, missing the first week of his u.s. tour, and much breath-holding by me, teitur finally made it to the u.s. he played last night here in chicago, in support of his new album, stay under the stars. i've had the album for several months now, having spent many overseas shipping dollars procuring it from a scandanavian source.

the concert was brilliant. he came on stage alone, with only his guitar, and opened with the eerie "thief about to break in." his band joined him after a few songs to play mostly songs from the new album. he also played some songs i hadn't heard before, like "south of france" and "guilt by association." he also played a hilarious little ditty he called "the visa song" about his tribulations with getting into the country to play his shows. i really hope a recording of this song shows up somewhere...

i think i spent the entire concert with a giant grin on my face, because his music just makes me smile. and seeing him playing is such an incredible experience. he was joined by tobias froberg for several songs, including a few from teitur's first album. the crowd got really excited for the old songs, which i understand as every song on that album is genius.

i didn't get home until 2 am. but i was still up at 7:30, with the music still dancing in my ears.

go see him if you get a chance. and pick up those albums. in fact, if you buy his first album and you don't like it - i will buy it back from you. that is how certain i am that you will love it. when do you ever get an offer like that?

upcoming dates:
Sep 23 2006 Blueberry Hill's Duck Room Saint Louis, MO
Sep 24 2006 Maintenace Shop Ames, IA
Sep 25 2006 Quest Club Minneapolis, MN
Sep 26 2006 The Bottleneck Lawrence, KS
Sep 28 2006 Walnut Room Denver, CO
Sep 29 2006 Trilogy Boulder, CO
Sep 30 2006 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT
Oct 2 2006 The Independent San Francisco, CA
Oct 3 2006 The Largo Los Angeles, CA
Oct 4 2006 The Largo Los Angeles, CA
Oct 5 2006 Coach House San Juan Capistrano, CA
Oct 7 2006 Take Root Festival Assen
Oct 8 2006 Paradiso Amsterdam
Oct 21 2006 AB Club Bruxelles
Nov 1 2006 Studio One Hamburg
Nov 2 2006 Tower Bremen
Nov 3 2006 MTC Koln
Nov 5 2006 Atomic Cafe Munchen
Nov 8 2006 Muzikcentrum Nord Hannover
Nov 9 2006 Kalkscheune Berlin