Teitur at The Great Hall – 03/06/12

Written by Alex Metcalfe & Photos by Sarah Rix

Nothing says “Tuesday night” like a mellow concert in a great hall. Or, The Great Hall, to be precise. Combine the semi-Danish cult hit troubadour, Teitur, with the welcoming, yet subdued environment of The Great Hall, and you’ve got a recipe for an enjoyable soirée filled with fun songs about love, quirky songs about love, sad songs about love, and the occasional tune about something completely different.
That’s exactly what happened when Teitur headlined an intimate show at The Great Hall yesterday evening along with opening act Paula Perri.

While the show spared no quality – Teitur proved he is a formidable artist – there is a small selection of difficulties that I came up with throughout Teitur’s set that had to do with the renditions of some of his songs.

With his Fender Rhodes electric piano already set up, Teitur was on stage in no time after Paula Perri finished up her opening set; all he really had to do was walk on and plug in his acoustic guitar! This talented Faroe Islands native proved that he is every bit a performer as he is a song writer, the latter being the part of his trade that has landed him some serious recognition recently, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Tonight’s show at The Great Hall was all about how much fun Teitur and Paula Perri could have in tinkering with their songs. And Teitur had lots of it. I don’t think there was a single song that stuck to one tempo for its full duration. Believe me, I tried to keep foot-tapping time!

Teitur really helped the audience see how masterful of a song-writer he is. And that gritty alto voice of his really stood out; partly because the acoustics in the Hall fancied his vocal range and volume, but also in part because North Americans just don’t sing like he does. For me, “Great Balls of Fire” really helped Teitur’s talents shine during this show.

So, with the good duly observed, I really got to enjoying this performance. But, things took a turn for the awkward when Teitur made a point of raising the intensity levels by sticking to a well-paced tempo and a more traditional vocal style with his poppy hit song “Louis Louis.” The song, felt like it was supposed to be the climax of Teitur’s performance. But, his hard strumming guitar made the instrument sound loud and tinny, and it drowned out his vocals which, during that song, started to lose their character. I was not overly impressed.

Fortunately, “Louis Louis” was an anomaly that quickly passed. Furthermore, it gave way to what was my most enlightening experience of the evening. It took me until this show to learn that Teitur is actually the original composer of “You Get Me,” one of the latter tracks on Seal’s recently released album 6. The song was well-conveyed in Teitur’s more stripped iterance, though I must confess to enjoying Seal’s version.

Teitur’s fun anecdote before the song was sure to thank Seal for his sudden increase in wealth after 6 was released in 2010. But, based on the level of musicianship that emanated from him this evening, I’m sure that Teitur is far from his last royalty paycheque! There’s many more great tunes up this artist’s sleeves!