Poets of the Fall – Glav Club, St. Petersburg; March 25th 2010

“Russia? What are you gonna do in Russia?” *shrugs* “What do you think I’m going to do in Russia? Go to concerts of course.” Beween January and March I was asked this question many times and the reactions to my answer ranged from staring at me in disbelief to finding it “cool”. I didn’t care much, I just had to do this!

Two years ago at the end of their ‘Revolution Roulette’ tour I had already wanted to see Poets of the Fall in Saint Petersburg, but then the time was too short to get a visa and I simply chickened out. Not this time. With an insecure job situation and not many positive things going on in “real life”, I needed some escape and the prospect of a new tour provided just that. I swore I would go and see as many gigs as I could, starting with St. Petersburg, the first show of the ‘Twilight Theater’ Tour.

Getting a visa was not as difficult as I had thought and N. in Russia helped me with tickets and travel planning. 🙂 In the morning of March 24th I started towards St. Petersburg and was nervous until I had finally entered the country. Now it was only a matter of finding the right bus and I was on my way. I searched and found the Bed & Breakfast I was staying at and was welcomed with open arms. A spaceous apartment and some hot tea gave me enough power to take the first walk about the city. It was still winter, but beautiful.

More sightseeing the next morning and then on to the Finnish train station where I met N., A. and friends at 13:30 p.m.. What we were doing there? Well, waiting for the 14:15 train from Helsinki, hoping the guys would be on it. We were not disappointed. 😀 They did not have much time and were tired from the long trip and we didn’t want to bother them too much, but it was just so nice to see them. 🙂 Marko tried to hide from us, but N. had a present for him so she walked over anyway and I followed. He was tired but friendly. We spoke briefly before they left. It was all over in a breeze and a really fun thing to do. I was so happy to finally see the guys again. It may be hard to understand but I had really missed them. Yet I must admit I was a little sad that none of them seemed to recognize me, because they usually do.

Hanging out, getting all my luggage to the Moskau train station, eating, and on to the club. We were there alone for a long time, but had fun, especially when A. and N. started singing Poets songs (and they do it really well too). After minor confusion of where to line up, they set up barriers and all was clear. N. and I were the first ones in and picked our spot in front row. The Russian fans were well perpared, many had facepaintings and the front row had gerbera flowers like the ones used in the ‘Dreaming wide awake’ video. Before the Poets came on stage we had to suffer through and obscure support act and other weird stuff. Time to breathe deeply, put up my Prowlers banner and calm down just a little. The wide trench between us and the stage was a bit disturbing, but somehow it didn’t matter any more later…

9:00 p.m. on the dot, lights out, music on and Poets on stage. ‘Dreaming wide awake’ was the opener, the energy coming from stage was reflected in the audience and seemed to be bouncing back and forth. The audience was loud, they knew every word (even though none of them had the album yet), flowers were flying on stage and just made beautiful decoration. The guys were on fire, Marko was picking up flowers, Ollie had one on his guitar, everyone looked so happy to be there and perform again. I had been wondering why there were so many sheets of paper taped to the stage until I realized that Marko did not know all the lyrics yet, He had to frequently bend down to read and screwed up a few which made the entire show all the more wonderful.

There were so many awesome moments great and small. Ollie, suddenly recognizing me and then smiling at me all the time; many gifts passed to the stage, often with help of the security guys because the distance was just too far; a can of Coke for N. and ’15 Minute Flame’, where Marko sang the last line of the second verse at the end of the first, wondered why we were laughing, read the lyrics and made the cutest face when he realized he screwed up. He got up again, started verse two and just before the line he held the mic to the side, mouthed “now!” and then continued. 🙂

I could hardly believe just how lucky we were when I realized they were going to play the entire new album. In the afternoon we had discussed just that and concluded they would not play ‘You’re still here’ or ‘Heal my Wounds’ because “they never do the slow ballads”. And then this unbelievable moment when Marko asked us if we’d mind him playing a ballad. I immediately thought it would be ‘Carnival of Rust’. Our reaction was not loud enough so he pretended to walk off stage saying he’d go home and heal his wounds now. It took a few seconds until my brain registered what he had said. NO WAY! My grin was huge and looking over to N. I saw it reflected on her face. YES! To hear this song live was my biggest wish and it was beyond beautiful. Not only did it sound amazing, but I could feel my very personal connection to this song. My entire body wanted to cry, yet I was too dehydrated so I just enjoyed what I saw and heard.

During ‘Change’ we all moved our arms back and forth in time with the music. It started to my left, then went on through front row and to the back. Judging by the looks on the faces of the guys on stage it must have looked good from up there. I had watched Marko for most of the night and gotten no reaction when all of a sudden I saw recognition on his face. He smiled and pointed at me “you!” All could do was nod and be happy. Wonderful 90 minutes and a great start to the tour.

After the gig we hung out, bought T-Shirts, talked excitedly, waited. The trench between Fans and stage proved useful when most of the guys came out to sign autographs. There were so many people, it took forever until I got to the front. Then I had Ollie coming towards me from the right and Marko from the left. They arrived at the same time, signed, smiled at me and Ollie made a remark about me coming all the way to Russia. So I told them that hearing ‘Heal my wounds’ alone was worth the trip. They both thanked me for coming and I didn’t even know what to say to that, felt I should be thanking them.

Hyper and totally happy we made our way to the train station, shouted with joy and chatted excitedly. We got our luggage, food and water and finally boarded the train at 0:20. Food, talking, chocolate, hot tea, and way too wound up to sleep. Finally, around 2 a.m. we decided to lie down. Each of us was caught up in their own thoughts then and the night became quiet. I spent a long time looking out the window and listening to ‘Twilight Theater’ on repeat on my iPod. I slept in bits and pieces, listening to the beautiful music. The last time I checked my watch it was 4 a.m., I shut off my iPod and slept for a while. The night was dark and quiet and the rhythm of the train wheels on the track had a calming effect on me as the train rolled on towards Moscow.

Setlist:
Dreaming wide awake
Smoke & Mirrors
Diamonds for tears
War
Given and denied
Dying to live
You’re still here
Illusion & Dream
15min Flame
Rewind
Change
Locking up the sun
The ultimate fling
Heal my Wounds
Lift
Carnival of rust