The start of Memorial Day weekend and all five lanes of the 101 are bumper to bumper as far as the eye can see, thank god it’s northbound and Im cruising on the southbound blasting NPR and heading to the Roxy on Sunset to catch two guys that had traveled far longer then me to be there. Teitur and Helgi Hrafn Jonsson are both from islands in the north Atlantic, Teitur from the Faroe Islands and Helgi Hrafn haling from Iceland. On this cold and rainy LA night (can someone tell me why it was raining?) they took the stage with two amazing LA singers, Jesca Hoop and Jessie Baylin.
This was my second time seeing Teitur this year and in the second country, but I had neither heard nor seen Helgi, Jesca or Jessie before so I was really looking forward to hear some new music and I was not disappointed. Helgi started his set by singing an old Icelandic lullaby that everyone back home knows and sings to their kids, it had been years since I heard it. This set the crowd, who kept getting bigger and bigger as the night moved on, for the rest of Helgis set: calm songs with great melodies and many of them lullaby sounding.
Next up was Jesca Hoop, a favorite of Tom Waits and Nic Harcourt, picking up where Helgi left of, her set was very mellow, relaxing and intimate with her sitting down with her band mates as they blazed through some cool tracks much to the delight of the crowd. If you happen to be in London June 3rd through 5th be sure to check out one of her gigs across the pond.
Jessie Baylin followed kicking up the tempo with her folk rock sound with a full band of some really great musicians coming out with one upbeat country tune after another. Jessie will be at Bonnaroo Music Festival so make sure you pick up a frozen treat from the Ice Cream Man before going to see her play.
“I always had the voice and now I am a singer, says Teitur these days after just releasing his new album The Singer and his live performance at the Roxy showed it. Mostly consisting of songs from the new album, Teitur put his heart and soul into it, with a more rocked set then from the previous times I have seen him he even went into a bass/guitar battle with his bassist Mikael Blak with Blak showing some amazing skills on the bass. Teitur and his band put on a great show at the packed Roxy and Im pretty sure the girl who flew all the way from Arizona was not disappointed with Teitur’s and all the other musicians performances that night.
If LA is in this rainy mood anytime soon, a Teitur concert is a sure way of getting away from it for a few hours. Big thanks to Tell All Your Friends PR.
