Poets of the Fall – Kantine, Cologne; November 200th, 2012
For our third day on the road C. and I had to catch a train at 7:30 in the morning. The plan was to sleep the 4+ hours we were going to spend on the train, but that didn’t happen. I silently cursed the changed tour schedule (the gig had been moved from November 21st to the 20th) and myself (for booking such an early train). Shortly after noon we’d made it to Cologne. C. went to see the cathedral while I did some shopping. Afterwards we went for lunch together with A. whom she had met.
Some more sightseeing, then on to the venue where we met with G. and C. . I had expected the usual Cologne crowd (somehow people go to gigs really early there), but we were almost the only ones around. Many more people gathered before the doors opened, getting in was relaxed and we gathered the third pink wristband of the week. The guy who handed them out kept joking with me that they’d be a different color the next day. 😉
The barrier in front of the stage was a strange mixture of regular barriers and stairs, a few steps each, which led from the floor in front of the stage up towards us. We took our places right at the center there, fully aware that at least one of the guy would be on those stairs during the show. 😀 They soundchecked ‘Signs of Life’ again and then ‘Shallow’ – people cheered loudly when it was over so Marko asked us if we wanted to hear that song. We sure did! The guys signed autographs, took pictures and chatted for a bit. Marko told us that he had lost his voice the previous night but was OK now – he still looked a bit feverish though. Ollie jokingly complained to me that I had nothing for him to sign any more. They were all tired from the long drive but in a good mood nonetheless.
The good mood carried over into the concert and when they started in front of a pretty full house, I immediately knew this was going to be a good one. ‘Running out of Time’ had people clapping along right away and the Poets were smiling so much already there was nothing to do but smile right back at them. Marko walked over to Ollie, pretending to play a guitar solo on his micstand and later, during ‘Temple of Thought’ he went ad rubbed Jani’s head. Captain, Jari and Jaska were all in the back of the big stage which left the guys with a lot of room to move. Ollie and Jani played together a lot, so did Ollie and Jaska, including a few guitar duels.
Once again it was fun watching the guys having a good time. During ‘Cradled in Love’ I saw Jani walking over to Ollie, saying something and they both laughed. What they said will forever be their secret I guess. C., G., C. and I were holding on to each other during the song – it was really beautiful, if sung a little lower than usual. There was no time to get lost in the ballad though, ‘Locking up the Sun’ followed and had us clapping, dancing and jumping. Jaska and Ollie came to the front of the stage to play together so we could watch them from up close.
‘Signs of Life’ was announced as “the missing song from our first album” , Marko got down on the floor and held on to Ollie’s leg for a while and later stepped on the stairs in front of us to shake hands with a few people. Jani played next to Captain for a while. Who knows, maybe he just checked if he was still there because he could not see him in all the artificial fog. 😉 The song ended in Jari’s awesome solo. For ‘Stay’ they audience proved they could not only sing along, but also wave their arms in time with the music.
‘Illusion & Dream’ is always a highlight for me and didn’t fail to move me this time either. Captain conducted us during the sing along part, Marko joked that it was always like “Dishonesto” was his last name “Dishonesto” and the guys all raised their glasses and bottles to us during the “I raise my glass and say here’s to you” line. I raised my glass back to them in a toast and of course Marko had to sneak up to Ollie and grab the whammy bar on his guitar during the solo in the end.
Quite fittingly “The Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper” started with lots of fog. Out of the dark, the first notes from Ollie’s guitar could be heard. Whenever that haunting melody starts I half expect to see tumbleweed somewhere, but that does in no way reduce the beauty of the song. It gets more amazing every time I hear it. We hardly had a chance to dwell on the calmness and beauty of the song or watch Jani, sitting down on the edge of the stage to play, because they immediately picked up speed again with ‘Kamikaze Love’, jumping and moving all over the stage and the stairs in front of us. C. and I had much fun singing together during this one.
They kept the show in high gear with ‘Miss Impossible’ where Marko was dancing all across the stage, going head to head with Jani and Oli and Jani stood on the drum platform to play. I especially love the breaks in the song towards the end where some people always think it’s over and then realize it is not. Fun! ‘Late Goodbye’ ended the main set with a wonderful sing along and a breathtaking solo from Ollie.
The Poets walked out and we cheered until they were back on stage. Marko yelled “love you” and we yelled right back at him. That went back and forth a few times, but when he tried yelling “hugs and kisses” instead nobody replied. He mused how long it had been since they’d last been in Cologne, then announced they had renamed “Shallow” to “Swallow”. How was I supposed to be in awe of the song when I had to laugh so hard? Once I’d stopped laughing, I loved hearing the song – it is seldom played and always makes me happy. Towards the end I had another funny moment. From the corner of my eye I saw Marko jumping towards me. I just had enough time to lift my camera off of the stairs before he landed right in front of me. He asked me if he scared me and was a little surprised when I said he didn’t. Made me smile. Band introductions followed for which Marko went off the stage to stand with us and remarked “this really looks nice from down here” then introduced everyone as his good friend. Captain got the best introduction tough: “That guy over there is a real wizard! Gandalf. Screw Gandalf, he doesn’t know anything… when it comes to music at least…” 😀
‘Dreaming wide awake’ had the guys jumping up and down again. Ollie almost lost his balance after jumping off the drum platform. He turned a few times and lost his little monitor so Einari had to come and clip t back on. ‘Carnival of Rust’ started with Marko posing like Zoltar in the video and brought some magical moments. After that ‘Lift’ was one last long burst of energy that ended the show. So much was going happening on stage that I’m sure I missed about half of it. Marko getting a shoulder massage from Einari, Ollie getting down on his knees playing a guitar solo, then Marko standing on his hands behind him, Jani, Jaska and Ollie all stepping on the stairs to play closer to us, Captain throwing light rings into the audience and Jaska jumping off the drum platform together with Ollie. For a moment it looked as if they were never going to leave the stage.
However, they did eventually and left behind a few hundred happy people yelling for more. We stayed and chatted for a while, some of the guys came out to talk to the fans, then it was time for us to say goodbye and go home. Finally a night in my own bed was awaiting me, with no alarm clock the next morning and a concert free day ahead.
Poets of the Fall autumn tour – 8 gigs down, 6 to go. Next stop: Dortmund
Setlist
Running Out of Time
Diamonds for Tears
Temple of Thought
Cradled in Love
Locking Up the Sun
Signs of Life
Stay
Illusion and Dream
Jeremiah Peacekeeper
Kamikaze Love
Miss Impossible
Late Goodbye
Encore:
Shallow (acoustic version) + band intro
Dreaming Wide Awake
Carnival of Rust
Lift