Poets of the Fall – Alte Seilerei, Mannheim; October 11th, 2013
Another day, another concert – the tour has by now become routine for me, but that didn’t make the concerts any less wonderful. I have just gotten used to traveling and living out of a suitcase. Spent the off day in Nuremberg, catching up on sleep and going to the movies. I had been hoping to hang out with S., A. and E., but they already left for Mannheim around noon so all I could do was take them to the bus. The weather was really shitty too – Marko’s raindance had worked. 😉
Anyway, after arrival in Mannheim I went straight to the venue where C. was already waiting for me and I stored my luggage in her car. J. arrived at about the same time and we set out to meet up with G., C., S., A., S. and E. at a nearby cafe for some food and drinks before the show. It was so much fun to see everyone again! Refueled, we went back to the venue to get in line. A handful of people were already there, among them the French couple we had met last year. D. arrived with her daughter L. – everyone smiled when she noted that many more people had attended the Justin Bieber concert they were at. 😀
The meet and greet started on time, our group dispersed and I continued my chain of broken conversations with the guys. As always I tried not to hog up too much of their time, so generally I talked to whoever was free and took a step back whenever someone else approached to get autographs or pictures, because for them it may be the only chance to meet Poets of the Fall this year while I knew there’d be a next concert for me. Thus, conversations sometimes got interrupted right in the middle and over the past days and occasionally we had just continued on the same topic at the next meet and greet. 🙂 I remember talking about music a whole lot and photography.
Somehow the stage seemed different from the previous year – those of us who had been there were all sure it was the same width, but the pillar Marko had climbed seemed to have switched position. Only after the concert we realized that the venue seemed smaller – apparently they had closed off the back of the place and the stage was more towards the center. Either way, it offered enough room for the guys to move around and they did. A lot! 😀
I love the music always and this night was no exception. The songs were beautiful, elating, happy, melancholic, rocking, soothing and breathtaking. The performance was awesome, every little moment made it worth coming there. These moments, the little things are what counts: In the songs, in the performance and in the experience shared with the people around me. It brings strangers together, but gets even better when eberything is shared with friends. This time I stood next to C. and we sang together and to each other a lot during the show with grand gestures and all. It was so much fun! <3 I also shard looks and smiles with everyone else and watched L. from time to time to see if she was enjoying the show. She got some special attention from Marko, who offered his hand. At first she didn’t know what to do, but then she took it and they smiled at each other. Later, when Ollie came to shake her hand, she was not so shy any more and grabbed it right away. 😀
The current setlist is just the perfect mix of everything. New songs, classic songs, rockers, ballads, those I love much and he ones they just can’t do without, can’t be without, because they define them as a band so much. Especially the balance between the acoustic set, where Marko gets a chance to show off and the many added instrumental bits and solos, where the others get a chance to do just the same is something I like a lot. My only complaint is that it feels so short. Making the acoustic set part of the encore shortens the main set so much that it seems to be over right after it has started. Still, except for making it a longer show in general, I would not want to change a thing.
Since Marko had this far always introduced Ollie, Jani and Jaska during the acoustic set, but never introduced Captain and Jari, I had asked him to change that. He did, but ended up saying “and on the drums: Jari Snellman”. It took a moment to sink in, but when everyone on stage, especially Jani and Jari started laughing, he noticed his mistake and quipped “I don’t know the people in my band”. A while after, Jani went and clinked glasses with Jari – surely an appropriate reaction. Af course there were guitar duels and water splashing and Marko doing the rain dance before ‘Locking up the sun’. The guys made good use of the side stage boxes to stand on, went and checked out each other’s playing and when it got too warm in the stage lights, Jani wiped Jaska’s guitar and Ollie’s head with a towel. 🙂 At one point Captain came to the front to take a look and got hugs from Jani.
At the beginning of the acoustic set, Marko asked us for “Poets of the Fall type of words”. Susan gave him “love” and the only one I could come up with was “Gravity” – sorry dear it was the first one that popped into my mind. He improvised a little song, before singing ‘Desire’. The second acoustic song was ‘Roses’ which started softly and then merged into a full band version. Awesome! Have I mentioned how much I love the creativity of this band? 😀
The three-song finale rocked the house. With ‘Running out of time’ from their latest album, ‘Lift’ from the first and their biggest hit ‘Carnival of rust’ in there, the guys manage to put their ten year history into these last 15 minutes of the show and show again what they are all about. It never fails to leave the audience with happy smiles on their faces. 🙂 Before finally leaving, Ollie and Marko shook hands with people. When the lights went back on we all agreed that it had been fun.
Setlist
Dreaming Wide Awake
Show Me This Life
Cradled In Love
Temple Of Thought
Kamikaze Love
Rogue
Locking Up The Sun
Illusion & Dream
Diamonds For Tears
The Distance
Late Goodbye
unplugged
Desire
Roses
Running Out Of Time
Carnival Of Rust
Lift
We hung out for a little while; I went for a chat with Petri and bought the “non-pink” shirt. 😉 Once outside we said goodbye and went our separate ways, knowing there’d be a reunion for most of us the next day. C. and I spent the night at B.’s place. She even made pizza for us when we got there and we chatted until way past our bedtime once again. 🙂
Poets of the Fall Switzerland/Austria/Germany tour: 4 gig down, 6 to go. Next stop: Freiburg