Poets of the Fall – The Tiger, Helsinki; Mai 14th 2010

When Poets of the Fall announced their acoustic gig at the Alan Wake release party I thought I was going to have to skip that one, even though it would have been perfect for a long weekend since the day before the gig was a public holiday in Germany. Why skip it then? I had made an appointment to get a tattoo that day. Still, I wanted to go so I called my tattoo artist and found it was surprisingly easy to reschedule, even on short notice. Then I asked for a day off and checked flights. Oh my, let’s just say they usually cost a lot less. I finally had to settle for flying in Friday morning and going back Saturday morning. Nothing else was affordable, but that didn’t matter, because I would be able to attend the gig on Friday. I had been dreaming of seeing an acoustic gig for a long time, but usually they are not announced in advance or at least I had never seen any such announcement. In the afternoon before the gig there was also going to be a signing session with the guys at the Anttila store so I’d have a busy day.

It was still cold in Germany when I left, but Helsinki greeted me with summer. It was wonderful to leave my jacket at my friend’s place and feel the sun on my skin. I met up with my friend I. at Anttila. There were some huge Alan Wake posters on display and a table was set up, but less then that it didn’t look like anything special was going to happen. A few more people arrived, mostly the usual suspects. I said hello to everyone I knew and got in line. The guys arrived, signed things, took time to talk to everyone and take pictures with people. There were so few of us, we actually had time for a chat. I didn’t need any autograph but Captain’s so I. had given me a booklet to get signed. She rather wanted to stay in the background to take pictures. I chatted with each of the guys for a little bit before I made room for the next person in line. They all smiled when they saw me. Yep, I was back once again and truly happy to see them.

It was over soon, we sat in the park for a while, before I. went home to change since The Tiger is a bit of a posh club with a dress code. Meanwhile I had dinner and the just walked around downtown. Soon a line was forming outside The Tiger so I texted my friend to hurry up and joined the line. When I finally got inside I realized all these people where on the guestlist. I was not of course so I had to wait. Yet when everyone else was in, they just waved me through without paying. Nice. 🙂 I got inside and grabbed two seats for us close to the stage. There were free drinks and food too. I. joined me soon and we watched the scene.

A gazillion people milled about in the club, but most of them were associated with Alan Wake somehow and only a handful of fans were seen. Jaska arrived, tuned his guitar and high-fived the fans who were already there. I went to get us drinks and found myself standing at the bar next to Ollie and Captain. I left them alone, they were deep in conversation. There were way too few barkeepers so it took ages to get some water for us. Funnily enough, Ollie and Captain were not being served either so at least they could not start the gig without me.

Finally I was back in my seat. We didn’t have to wait long any more for the guys to come on stage. We had already figured out it was going to be the bass and two guitars since 4 chairs were set up for them.

They started their set with ‘Dreaming wide awake’ and it was sung flawlessly. I was happy to hear that Marko had finally fully recovered from his larynx infection in April. Next was ‘War’ in the most beautiful version I have ever heard. I’m still getting goosebumps just thinking about it. Not only the singing was beautiful, but also the guitar work by Ollie and Jaska. Just beyond awesome. ‘Diamonds for Tears’ followed, then ‘Lift’ with amazing guitar work once again. They really showed off their skills. The last song was ‘Late goodbye’ “the only time this year we are gonna play this” and then it was over. After all the party was about Alan Wake and not the Poets. Yes, it was a very short concert, but so very much worth it. I had always wanted to see them perform acoustically and finally got my wish. I loved every second of it and would do this again without second though.

Setlist

Dreaming wide awake
War
Diamonds for tears
Lift
Late goodbye