Poets of the Fall – Tavastia, Helsinki; October 3rd, 2014

Sitting at Helsinki airport at 6 in the morning, still half asleep, I can’t help but wonder at the journey that has brought me here. A new Poets of the Fall tour has started last night and after all these years and all these concerts they still blow me off of my feet as much as they did the very first time. They have captured my heart and soul and no matter how many times I hear and see them, they still leave me in awe with a smile too wide for my face. We got to hear new songs and old, some of us laughed and some of us cried, but all of us were having a blast. At times the entire venue exploded into cheers, at times they were speechless as if all of us together were a living, breathing organism, completely under the spell of the magicians called Poets of the Fall.

It had been a short night for me and upon arrival in Helsinki I needed sleep first. Felt better after two hours of that and set out to get some food before the concert. Since my usual pre Tavastia gig food stop is the Ilves, right next door, I was more than shocked to see two people already waiting in line at 3 in the afternoon: S. and Z. I talked them into joining me for lunch, but when we got back out, there were four more people waiting. It was way too early to get in line, but what can you do? I wish people would just chill a little bit and come later instead of always trying to outdo each other in being first in line. *sigh * Thus, the long and boring waiting period began. I loved the company, we had a good time chatting, but waiting is still not my favorite thing to do. More people arrived soon, H., my life saver, bringing me a bottle of water. Time slowed to a crawl. When it was time for the doors to open the line stretched a long way. I loved seeing that, sold out gigs are the best.

Inside there was more waiting and it was a bit too crowded to leave the spot I was in and check out the merchandise. To my surprise, Petri was not there. Would have loved to go and give him a hug. In fact, of the regular crew of Einari, Hannu, Petri and Pyry, only Einari was there. The lighting tech was the same as on the Germany tour last year and the sound guy has been trading places with Pyry before too. So not an entirely new crew. An hour after we got in, the doors to the hall finally opened and people just ran. S., Z. and me scored front row center, H. was a bit to the right of us and O. and her friends who’d been in line with us all that time took the left side. We were ready to go! It was incredibly crowded at the front, but people relaxed a bit later and we were able to move. Like back in December there was a white, see through curtain in front of the stage, ready to drop at the first song.

Finally, the excitement hit me and a smile crept up on my face. OMJG, I had made it and in less than an hour I was going to see the Poets again. We shared hi-fives for making it to these spots, smiled at each other, wondered which song they would start with or which ones of the new album they might play. Z. was wearing a vest she had made for Marko with a beautiful Daze themed painting on the back. She took it off, ready to hand it to him at the first opportunity. 🙂

When the music from the DJ stopped, the crowd went wild, but we had to wait a few more minutes, before the house lights went down. As bright blue light beams pierced the darkness, everyone at the venue screamed with excitement. This was what we all had been waiting for. The intro was an awesome sci-fi thing with a spoken part about Jealous Gods and sounds that just made me think of outer space. Kudos to Captain for that one, it was the perfect start for the show. The guys took their places one by one, the curtain dropped and the show was on the road. ‘Daze’ was the first song and right from the start it became clear that this audience knew the lyrics – they sang along nicely. The song was really powerful live – a great opener.

The sound was a bit off at the beginning. I cold not hear enough of Marko’s voice and kept adjusting my earplugs. Luckily this changed soon and I could hear everyone well. Most of the guys were wearing black stage outfits, Marko even long sleeves. He had feathers on his mic stand, pants and wrist and some interesting face paint to boot. I immediately liked it. 🙂 Ollie had a white tie this time, nicely contrasting with the black dress shirt. Jani had his usual vest, black fingerless gloves and lots of silver wristbands. Jaska showed off his tattoos in a black tank top, Captain had also chosen a vest and Jaris a band shirt. They all looked happy and excited to be back on stage.

‘Jealous Gods’ was next and just as beautiful as on the album. Had I not been so happy, it might have brought me to tears. Around this time, Marko took a quick poll, asking how many people were from Finland (in Finnish) and how many weren’t “If you’re from outside Finland, raise your hand now!” A lot of hands went up, at least at the front. I could not see everyone from where I was standing, but my guess is that maybe one quarter of the audience was not Finnish. Someone who had a better overview should say something about this though. 😉 It was around this time that Marko walked over to JAska and leaned on to him for a while. My hopes that they might scratch ‘Diamonds 4 Tear’ off of the setlist were shattered with the third song. Oh well, I can’t always have it my way. 😉 ‘Love Will Come To You’ immediately made up for it though, it was beautifully delivered with Ollie on acoustic guitar. <3

As usual, Marko was all over the place and walked to the far right of the stage to shake hands. He kept on going towards the center, the suddenly noted he’d love to shake everyone’d hand but was running out of time. After the slower, softer ‘Love Will Come To You’, the explosive energy of ‘Running Out Of Time’ was the perfect contrast and a good opportunity to watch Ollie and Jaska compare their guitar playing skills, at least for those of us who were not jumping around madly. 😀 During the gig I put down my camera several times to be able to move more freely and bounced up and down a lot. It was so much fun!

‘Rogue’ was a killer, I don’t think I will ever get enough of watching the guys work and marveling at their skills. Just awesome! Soon Marko was back, in a T-Shirt this time. I had been wondering when the long sleeve shirt would get too warm. 😉 I do not particular like ‘Choice Millionaire’ so I had been dreading it a little. To my surprise it worked really well live and I actually enjoyed it. The best part was Jaska and Marko doing Vogue like arm motions during it for a while. First I saw Jaska doing it and then realized Ollie was doing it too. 😀 The always great ‘Illusion & Dream’ followed, a song I can never get enough of, including the “dishonesty” sing-along, all the guys raising their bottles and glasses to us and Marko checking out Ollie’s guitar playing. 😀

For ‘Brighter Than The Sun’ Marko put on the vest Z. had handed him earlier, but not without presenting it to the audience first. He threw a “kiitos” in her direction and wore it for a while before taking it off again. Z. was all smiles and by the look on her face close to a happy heart attack. What a great fan moment! 🙂 At the end of the song, Jani was sitting down at the edge of the stage strumming his bass. 🙂 With Marko’s usual rain dance the band launched into Locking up the sun. When I held out my hand to “Turn back time” Marko took it and we did the turning together. <3 Also, I shared a nice headbanging moment and a smile with Ollie during the song. <3

Unexpectedly soon the main set was nearing its end. It wasn’t over yet though, we still got two more songs. Marko was crouching down right in front of us and told me “I’m gonna say this in Finnish so most people can understand because it’s a long story” then said a few words and ended with saying “King of Fools”. My smile grew too big for my face then. I love that song and getting it in the full band version was a wonderful treat. During the song, Marko knelt down in front of Jani and sang to him. 🙂 Even more surprising was the last one though. With the first notes of ‘Nothing Stays The Same’ everyone fell silent and there was only Marko’s voice ringing out low and soothing and beautiful. It was the one song of the new album I’d been hoping for the most and at the same time the song I had expected least. The performance was absolutely flawless! During the long guitar solo part at the end of the song, Marko motioned for us to make room and walked out into the audience, arms raised high above his head. Everyone was staring at him as he made his was toward the back and then to either side. It was fun, but of course it took all the attention away from the stage where Jaska, Ollie and Jani were showing some great work on guitars and bass. Only after he returned to the stage, people turned back and saw what was happening there. I have to remember this next time and watch what happens on stage. The little I did see was really awesome. To top it all off, Marko went and tickled Jaska with a feather, teasing him until he laughed. He didn’t miss a note though. 🙂

The left the stage and we called them back for more. Ollie and Marko came back, taking their places on bar stools. Marko had brought a glass of champagne he raised to us and I thought he said something about ‘Jealous Gods’ being number one in the charts, but according to gig reports by people who actually understand Finnish, he said something different. Either way, it led to great cheers. The two of them played ‘Late Goodbye’ for us and I must say it was lovely. Until ‘Cradled In Love’ I had been wondering if they might replace it with ‘Rebirth’, but that didn’t happen. It was a nice rendition though with lots of singing along.

As if there had not been more than enough perfect moments during this concert already, the Poets had another surprise in store for us: ‘Shallow’ was next on the setlist. I absolutely adore this song and having it there made me happier than I already was. <3 The last kick of the concert came with ‘Lift’ into ‘Dreaming Wide Awake’. I got out of breath with jumping and still somehow managed to watch the guys. At one point Jani and Jaska were playing head to head, laughing and a bit later Ollie was standing on the drum raiser with Jani and playing there. Also, Marko showered us with water, which was a welcome cool-down. J ‘Carnival of Rust’ ended the show and left everyone in stunned silence for a moment before they started clapping. As they walked off stage, Ollie ran over to me to shake my hand. <3 Overall a great setlist, great energy and so much love. Perfect!

After the concert we stuck around a little, I said hello to friends, finally got some water, talked, shared happy moments with everyone. When we left, Z. asked to get the gig poste from the glass case outside the Tavastia and when she had it, a guy from POTF’S crew offered to get it autographed for her. He told us that Marko had already left, but everyone else signed. We also met Einari on the way out and had a nice chat with him. What a great night, I cannot wait for the Germany tour to start!

Setlist 

Daze
Jealous Gods
Diamonds 4 Tears
Love Will Come To You
Running Out Of Time
Rogue
Choice Millionaire
Illusion & Dream
Brighter Than The Sun
Locking Up The Sun
King Of Fools
Nothing stays the same

Late Goodbye (acoustic)
Cradled In Love
Shallow
Lift
Dreaming Wide Awake
Carnival Of Rust

pictures of this concert