Poets of the Fall – Grünspan, Hamburg; October 18th, 2013

This concert was the one I had been waiting for since this tour started. It was my 100th Poets of the Fall concert and I had made sure the guys knew, hoping they would play one of the songs I had asked for. When the moment arrived, the guys did not only manage to surprise me, they completely blew me off my feet. Even after all these years and all these shows they still amaze me. 🙂

I had been excited about this concert all day long and even though I tried lowering my expectations and kept telling myself that it was just going to be a regular show, there was no way to calm me down. I blame Ollie! 😉 Somewhere earlier this year I had told him that I might reach 100 concerts and he lightly said something along the lines of “Really? Maybe we’ll do something special” – he might have long since forgotten his words, but I could not get them out of my head. Thus I just had to try and at the meet & greet in Nuremberg I had carefully asked Marko if they’d consider playing a song for me somewhere on this tour. He said yes and I gave him three options. We did not agree on anything more specific. Just in case things would not go according to plan and not wanting to be a show off, I had kept this conversation to myself.

Anyway, I dragged my friends C. and B. to the venue way too early, wanting to make sure I’d be front row. We waited alone for over one hour. *blushes* J., who showed up next, didn’t have a VIP ticket and everyone else came much later. Never mind, the sun was shining and we had some nice conversations. Also we met most of the guys coming back from shopping, first Jani and Marko, then Ollie, Captain and Jaska. The last three could not get in because the door was locked so we joked around until Einari came and opened the door for them.

It got colder, many people arrived and lined up behind us. Moments before the doors opened I spontaneously gave my spare VIP ticket to J. who was happily surprised. The first person inside I got to pick my favorite spot at front row center, slightly to the left of Marko’s microphone. The venue looked really nice. It had previously been a cinema so it had balconies and seemed a bit theater like overall. The stage was a nice size too.

The meet & greet came and went. For the life of me I cannot remember what we talked about other than chatting with Jari about the huge music store he had been to and giving Jaska a long overdue present. I know I hugged some of the guys, but other than that I stayed mostly in the background I think. After taking the usual group pictures the guys left and I put my camera away. Despite having a photopass I wanted to enjoy this concert and not worry about pictures.

The show kicked of with ‘Dreaming wide awake’ into ‘Show me this life’, but the audience was a tad slow at first. It took them a while to catch on and rock along with the band. I felt a little bit weird without my camera and kept framing the guys in my mind. Loved having a wider perspective, but needed some songs to shake the feeling I should take pictures. Once that had happened, I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

During ‘Cradled in Love’ I felt the pain of missing friends I had grown close to during this tour. They just weren’t there to join hands with the remaining three of us and swing our arms in tune with the music. When Marko yelled “Sun dance!” before dancing across stage in wild circles at the start of ‘Locking up the sun’ I had to smile. The weather had been quite nice since Bielefeld so it finally seemed to be working. Why of course he can command the weather – didn’t you know? He also pulled a scarf over his head for the song. I have no idea why he did it, but it sure made me laugh.

There were so many nice interactions with the audience and between the band as usual. I enjoyed watching, but cannot remember many details. Lots of stuff happened during ‘Rogue’ and I enjoyed it when the guys walked close to the edge of the stage and played in front of me. I know some of the guys toasted to me for ‘Illusion & Dream’, I know Jaska and Ollie did the leg lifts in unison again and I remember Marko hopping off the stage twice to get closer to the audience and sing to them. I listened and sang along, I rocked out, made all the moves in all the right places and had lots of fun. Yet in the back of my mind I was silently wishing for the acoustic part of the show to come, hoping for a song and wondering if it would really happen.

During ‘The Distance’ Marko sang to me and it might have been the first time I fully remembered the lyrics. Which line? I have no clue. 😉 The ‘Late Goddbye’ sing-along worked nicely – the audience was warmed up by now. The guys left the stage and the tension became almost unbearable for me. We did not have to cheer for long to bring them back out.

Marko came back alone at first, chatted, told us they’d do something special. He introduced Ollie and together they played ‘Stay’. Meanwhile, everyone else was sneaking back up stage. Once again Marko said they’d do something special and then joked he would be speaking Irish. “We’re gonna play a song we have never played live before!” At that moment I knew what was coming and felt the smile spread on my face. From then on, everything happened in slow motion: Ollie counting to four, and the first notes of ‘Morning Tide’. Even though this song had been my first choice I never thought they would actually play it for me, especially not a full band version. Yet there it was. I mouthed “Thank you!” and let the music carry me. Didn’t know what to do with my hands until C. took mine and just held on to it. Marko was singing to me and I saw each of the others smile at me. Wow, just wow! There are no other words to describe this. <3

When the song was over I was in a daze and it took me most of ‘Running out of time’ to get out of it and feel the concert again. Once again the Poets brought the show to a great finish. Especially Ollie and Jaska were having fun, sticking guitar picks to their foreheads and dueling. At one point Ollie even motioned for Jaska to get out of the way because he wanted to jump. For a moment it seemed they never wanted to stop playing. At the end of the show they all hugged each other. I wanted to join in, but knew hugs would have to wait until the next meet & greet in Berlin. Smiling I watched until they had left and the house lights went on. With a deep sigh I gathered my stuff, hugged my friends and got something to drink.

Setlist 

Dreaming Wide Awake
Show Me This Life
Cradled In Love
Kamikaze Love
Temple Of Thought
Rogue
Locking Up The Sun
Illusion & Dream
Diamonds For Tears
The Distance
Late Goodbye

unplugged
Stay

Morning Tide
Running Out Of Time
Carnival Of Rust
Lift

After the show I stuck around until most people had left to have a drink with Petri and a nice chat with him and Nina. I hung out until I was the last fan left at the venue. Outside, B. had been waiting for me. We joined C. and J. at a nearby café for late night food and drinks and excited chatter well into the night. The happy tears didn’t come until the next day, on the way to Berlin.

Poets of the Fall Switzerland/Austria/Germany tour: 9 gigs down, 1 to go. Next stop: Berlin