Poets of the Fall – Ilves Barb ‘N’ Night, Tampere; December 5th 2011

Oh my, oh my what a night….

It started with getting into our fancy dresses in A.’s room, sharing stories and chocolate, laughing, hanging out, then going to the lobby meeting others and having good food at the Amarillo. Everyone looked so pretty all dressed up. Soon after the nightclub opened, so we went downstairs and in front of the stage. There was a lot of time to pass, we invented all sort of strange dances, laughing and just having fun. The Finns were clearly outnumbered in front row, five of them with two Germans, one Ukranian and six Russians. We were grooving and being watched by people too. Funny, I just hope nobody took pictures. 😉

When it was time for the guys to come out we got our feather boas ready. After we had seen the outfit Marko had worn in India and believing it was a one-time thing, G. and I had decided to wear feather boas with our dresses and talked 5 of our friends into doing the same. We also planned to sing Happy Birthday for Marko but that was a big failure. 😉

Since we were all in fancy dresses we had been hoping the guys would come in tuxedoes. What finally got our hopes up was the fact that Einari and Hannu were wearing dress shirts and ties. They didn’t quite come in tuxedoes, but they all had dressed nicely for the occasion and not in their usual jeans and T-Shirts.

Remembering the small and oddly shaped stage from last time I had left my camera at home, ready to just enjoy the music and the show for once. And what a great show it was. They had to play a short setlist, so they put all the usual show energy into a shorter time frame.

I’m running out of words to describe the awesomeness of their concerts. To see them smile happily, enjoying being there, joking with each other and the audience, to watch them do music magic, each one of them a master at their instrument of choice. I made it a point to watch each one of them, even though Marko was right in front of us for most of the night. It is just so much fun to wach the guys interacting with each other, joking, teasing, smiling, being lost in music. We had picked a good spot at the center where Ollie, Jaska and Jani came to play right in front of us. Watching them work was all sorts of amazing.

As always, the railing was the place for Marko to be. He stood up on it quite a few times, crouched down, singing to us, sat down right in front of me. I sure had fun watching him. A funny moment was when at one point he picked up his phone and sang into it without missing a beat, then hung up and put it ack in his pocket. A birthday call maybe?

The whole gig was great fun and there was enough room to move and jump arond during the faster songs. During ‘The ultimate fling’ I was jumping and headbanging (which does not look very impressive because I have short hair). Ollie watched me, smiled and headbanged with me. 😀 I loved every second of the gig, almost forgot to breathe at times and felt a little bit dazed when it was over. It all happened so fast.

After the gig I saw the guys leave. Ollie came over to us to say goodbye and asked me if I’d be there on Fridays. Why of course I would be. 😀

Some of my friends went on to see Happoradio, who were playing at a different venue at the hotel, some said goodbye. The rest of us went back to A.’s room, changed again and chatted for a bit before we left. We had a good laugh at the fact that my feather boa had given off color and made me look smurfy blue. Back at our hotel, G. and I chatted the night away, before we were tired enough to sleep. The following day, we took a train to Helsinki from where G. went home and I went to my friend’s place to stay until the weekend and see the last gig of the tour.

Setlist:

Dreaming wide awake
The ultimate fling
No End, no Beginning
Locking up the sun
Roses
Given and denied
Diamonds for Tears
Illusion & Dream

Encore:
Late goodbye
Carnival of Rust
Lift