Poets of the Fall – MS Viking Grace, Finland; August 30th, 2019
For years I’ve been telling people how little I like cruise ship gigs and yet I keep doing them because they are comparably cheap and easy to get to. This year though, I opted out of most, because I really do find these cruises incredibly boring. There was no other Poets of the Fall summer gig for me though and I found myself on the MS Viking Grace once again. Objectively, this was an awesome show and I recognized how the guys were playing their hearts out and having fun in the process, but for me it didn’t do much at all. It was nice being there and hearing the music I love, yet my mind was elsewhere. It’s OK though, I am not blaming anyone for this and I have absolutely no regrets. Overall, I had a good time anyway.
This trip was a surprisingly relaxed affair. My flight to Helsinki left just before noon, I had more than enough time to catch my train and arrived at Turku harbour about one hour before boarding. Met up with my friend A. and spent the time chatting. We checked out the club right after going on board and already saw five people in line. Too early we decided and left to return when they opened. Still made it to the front row then. We considered staying on the balcony upstairs, but I had brought the wrong camera lens for that. Also, after so many gigs further back, it felt nice to be at the front again.
Looking around I didn’t see any familiar faces and wondered again how much this fandom has changes since I joined in 2007. I’ve seen many people come and go in this time, other things becoming more important in their lives. Bands change, tastes changes, Nothing ever stays the same and sometimes we need to leave old favorites behind. Who knows where I’ll be in a few years from now? This night, however, I was right were I wanted to be, even though my heart was not in it. That, however, had nothing to do with Poets of the Fall, their music, or the people around me. I had just gotten some wonderful news the previous day and my mind was running on overdrive with planning that event. Therefore it was difficult not to be distracted. 😉
Finally, just after midnight the band was announced and the curtains opened (did I mention there were curtains?). Recently Captain had posted about a new setlist, so I was half expecting a changed intro, but it still sounded the same to me. Not that I’m complaining – I like this one! ‘Dreaming Wide Awake’ was a great way to get me in the mood and standing right in front of Ollie helped as well. Seeing the guys made me smile, it always does. Still,I felt strangely detached and while I loved the music and have no complaints about the sound either, I could not fully get into it. Oh well, at least I had a friend by my side and a new camera to try out. 😉
To my surprise, they continued rocking with ‘Locking up the Sun’ – “That’s more like it!” I though. After hearing ‘Take Control’ their new song for the remedy game ‘Control’, released under their alter ego Old Gods of Asgard, I had realized just how much I missed the times they were rocking a lot more than they are now. So this was the perfect start for the show and if it was up to me, the setlist would have continued along those lines from there on in. There is a long list of songs I’d love to hear (again), but it is probably a good thing that I don’t get to choose what they are playing. 😉
The main part of the concert pretty much went like it has been going the entire tour, minus a few songs because the cruise gigs are generally shorter. This is not saying I didn’t enjoy it, I had just hoped for a bit more of a shake up, maybe a song or two they have not played from the current album yet. We’ll see how that changes with the upcoming tour. For now it was all fine, I watched the guys play and joke around with each other, struggled a bit with my new camera, did all of the moves and wondered how little people participated most of the time. As alway, the guys spent a lot of time interacting with the audience and we got some nice close up views and the occasional “hey, nice to see you again”- smile from our spot. 😀
Last song before encores was unexpected: ‘Late Goodbye’ was back in the set. It was one of the first songs I fell in love with and I know it has a lot of meaning for many fans, especially those who have been around for a while. Some are always disappointed when they don’t play it. Personally, however, I never miss it much. It was good though and I sure enjoyed seeing Ollie work his magic. This also made me think that they will have to change at least one of the VIP songs on the next part of the tour. Chances are I won’t be around for that, but it makes me happy for those who always shell out for VIP tix.
They came back soon and started with ‘Diamonds for Tear’ the song I had hoped would be gone for a long time. It is not a song I dislike, just one I have heard way too many times and I’s much rather have something else off of the ‘Revolution Roulette’ album that always feels underrepresented in the setlists. would be great to hear songs like ‘Passion Colors everything’ or ‘Save me’ or ‘Psychosis’ again. Oh well, I can dance to it anyway. 😉 Of course ‘Lift’ and ‘Carnival of Rust’ could not be missing and they were just as great as ever. 😀 Overall it was a fun show and I wish I’d been a little less distracted. It sure did make me smile and that’s all I needed that night.
Setlist
Dreaming Wide Awake
Locking Up the Sun
False Kings
Temple of Thought
Rogue
The Sweet Escape
My Dark Disquiet
War
Daze
Late Goodbye
Diamonds for Tears
Lift
Carnival of Rust