Poets of the Fall – Kooma, Turku; December 3rd 2011
Have I mentioned I don’t function very well on too little sleep? For the Turku gig I was so tired that most of it is pretty much a blur. I can hardly remember any details which is usually what I remember most, but let me backtrack and see what I can actually tell you…
After a nice breakfast with the guys at the hotel in Mikkeli, G. and I were on our way to Turku. No, I’m kidding you of course. At 9:00 a.m. most of the Poets were nowhere to be seen and those that were we left alone. I don’t want to be bothered before the first shot of cafeine in the morning (or while having a meal in general), so I certainly would not do that to anyone else. We kept to ourselves, chatted, said goodbye to M. from Belgium and made our way to the train station. We were in for a pitkää matkaa (a long journey) as the train attendant noted when she checked our tickets. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with one change of trains. We talked and watched the landscape outside go by. I hadn’t taken any pictures the previous night, so I checked the ones from the week before and started editing. It was a nice and relaxing way of traveling and it slowly grew dark on the way.
K. picked us up at the train station, we left our luggage in her car and went for lunch. Then took G. to her hotel and spent some time there before meeting up with our friends.
The biggest surprise for me was to see my friend C. waiting for us by the club doors. I had no idea she was coming. 😀 The complex where the nightclub was had a pikkujoulu (pre Christmas party) going on, so we stayed at a pub across the road, having tea. More friends arrived, more chatting in three languages (German, Finnish, English) and finally a move over to where the club was. We stayed at the Karaoke bar until it was time to get in line. To pass the time most of us tried playing the idiot’s test on K.’s phone. If I recall correctly it deemed me “slightly more intelligent than a monkey” – yep, that’s me on too little sleep.
At the nightclub we sat down on the boxes in front row and waited, watching people. I had picked a pretty bad spot, right where the fog from the fog machine came out to the dance floor. (And let me tell you, they used that thing a lot!) Time went by slowly and I contemplated crawling up on stage and lieing down behind the drums to sleep for a bit. 😉 Met a few Cheerios by the bar and had a nice chat before returning to the front row.
Finally, somewhere around midnight, last gig preparations took place and it looked as if it was ging to start soon. We got up, ready to go. The DJ played Queen’s ‘We will rock you’ and we started banging out hands on the railing and clapping in unison and in rhythm. That was quite fun, everyone was smiling.
As the intro to ‘Dreaming wide awake’ started, I felt my mind and body waking up. This was what I had been waiting for and all the weariness of the previous hour fell away from me. I never get tired of hearing these first notes and seeing them walk on stage one by one, picking up their instruments, getting ready and then launching into the song together. The smiles when they walk out and look at their audience for the first time, the glance of recognition when they see familiar faces in the crowd, the moment of concentration when they get ready to play and then all the energy explodes into music.
While rocking out to ‘The ultimate Fling’ I looked at my friends by my side and noticed that A. was headbanging with flying hair. It made me smile to see her getting so much into it. Everyone else was having fun too. I cannot remember much else of the gig other than everyone having fun and Marko trying (and failing) to stand on the railing in front of us. The thing was round so he could not keep his balance up there.
They guys had fun and gave out a lot of handshakes that night. As they finally left the stage after the encore, Jari gave me a pair of drumsticks – that absolutely made my night. I decided I didn’t need two though and gave one to my friend C..
We hung out for a while, some of us had a drink and we even saw the guys again. I had not expected them to come out and they didn’t do so for long, but I had a chance for saying goodbye. Not much more would hae been possible anyway, as the music that had been turned on immediately after their gig was much too loud. We could only shout at each other. I spotted a few guys from India (at least that’s where I assume they were from) who talked to Ollie for a while. I didn’t get a chance to speak with them though. G. went and collected autographs for a friend, then we left.
Walked back to G.’s hotel to get my luggage, chatted for a while, then met A. at the train station and with her drove off into the night. The rest of the weekend I spent at her place and I really enjoyed my stay, with great food and even better company. On Monday morning it was time for me to leave. On to the next city and the next gig.
Setlist
Dreaming wide awake
The ultimate Fling
Can you hear me
No End, no Beginning
Stay
Sleep
Locking up the Sun
Diamonds for Tears
Roses
Given and Denied
War
Illusion & Dream
Encore:
Late goodbye
Carnival of Rust
Lift