Tiny venue, braided tassel and watching Ollie from the crowd

Poets of the Fall & Flight Brigade – Lux, Hannover; November 30th, 2016

Lux in Hannover is one of the smallest venues I have ever been to and certainly the smallest I have ever seen Poets of the Fall play at. It immediately reminded me of Smitt’s Katze in Freiburg and knowing how great that concert had been I had high expectations. They were not disappointed. It was a brilliant show, the highlight of the tour so far and made me want to claim that it could not possibly get any better than this. We shall see if the guys manage to prove me wrong this time. 😀

The day started in Hamburg with breakfast at my friend’s place before going to the train station where I met up with D., E., A. and G., who shared the same train. We got to Hannover, checked in to our respective hotels, did some shopping for the after party and met again at the venue around 4:30. Getting there made me smile because the Capitol, the larger club next door is one of my old hunting grounds. The Lux didn’t exist back then. By the door was a handwritten board telling us there were 5 tickets left for the night’s gig. 😀 The others arrived shortly after I did and we proceeded to chat, joke and watch Flight Brigade walk in and out of the venue. We even ended up holding the door for them at times.

Eventually Marko walked out, wearing short sleeves and no jacket so when he asked us how we were I told him “Not as cold as you are gonna be in a minute”. We joked that he really should get warm or there would be no singing the next day when Nina came out and dragged him to the bus. Jari followed, calling something after her to which she did not react, so D. suggested he’d try “Mom..!” and he did. 😀 We saw all of them eventually and Marko was just gonna tell us about the medieval style Christmas Market he found when he got dragged away to get some food. Waiting to get in is rarely that entertaining. 🙂

Once we were inside all of us were surprised at how small the venue really was. When the six of us plus G. were inside, the front row was filled and the stage was so crowded with instruments we wondered where Flight Brigade were going to stand. The second surprise was how few people had joined the meet & greet – there were about 25 of us. Maybe they sold less tickets for that club, maybe more people were not interested. Either way it was great because it actually gave us time to talk to the guys. For the pictures, Ollie had to stand on an empty beer crate because the backdrop was set up by some stairs and not all of the guys fit on there. It was funny.

We talked with all of them and somehow we always had Jani in tow. He was not as busy as the others and when we took group selfies with Ollie he just snuck in. 😉 He admired the Child of the Fall T-Shirts that we had made with our names and quotes we liked and wanted one too. An idea grew out of that remark….
I asked Marko about the medieval market and with shining eyes he described how much he loved the sellers and the costumes. We took group selfies with him too. Already I can’t remember details of what I talked about with the other guys, but it was all very nice and relaxed.

Before the holders of regular tickets arrived we piled all our jackets up by the side of the stage on some chairs. The stage was so low and the mic stand so close that I could not resist touching the tassel and finally put a braid into one of them. It caused great amusement among my friends.

Soon it was time for Flight Brigade and they really didn’t have any room on stage.They even left one of their keyboarders behind because she just did not fit. The remaining six members could hardly move, but played a rocking set anyway. As they were carrying their equipment into the club they had talked to us a little bit, recognizing some of us from the previous day. Now, at the start of their set, the singer pointed to us and told everyone “We were in Hamburg yesterday as these ladies know.” I was already remembering bits and pieces of their songs and tried to sing along. The music fits well with Poets’ and they seem to be nice people too. It is always good to have a support one can enjoy and they certainly fit the description. They have powerful songs as well as soft ones and a nice variety of music overall. I had much fun listening to them and clapped along with everyone else at the front. Already they talked more than the previous night and seemed less nervous. Good for them. 🙂 Their seven songs were over in a heartbeat and we felt the main event of the night draw nearer.

Setlist:

House Fire
Where Eagles dare
U kill me
Tearaway
Our Friends Our Enemies
Hurricane Season
Thick as Thieves

Being back among my tour family made me so happy. If you go from town to town with the same people day after day and attend concerts with them night after night a bond is formed that cannot be destroyed by time or distance and remains just as strong during tour breaks than it was while you were on the road. We share so many good times and special moments, have great conversations or simply keep each other company. We laugh together and sometimes we even cry together, we party during the shows and after, we support each other through our lows and are happy for each other’s special moments, we endure tiredness, bad moods and cold together and we keep the tour memories alive. Each one of us has their favorite song, moment, or memory and we make sure to help each other to make each experience a good one. It is so much nicer than touring alone. <3

When the intro started a grin spread on my face as I sang along to the chorus of ‘Shadow Play’. The band had to walk past us to get on stage, coming in from the left where G. and G. made room for them. Even with Flight Brigade’s instruments no longer on stage they had very little room to move and stood close to each other. That did not keep them from playing one hell of a show though. 😀 The moment I saw them standing right in front of me, close enough to touch, I knew it was not a night for taking pictures. So I mentally kicked back and enjoyed, only capturing the images with my mind.

There was magic in the air during the entire night and I felt so much love for the band I wanted to hug them all the time. When Marko leaned on my shoulder to reach out into the audience, I actually did give him a hug, if only a slight one. He was also looking at me all the time, smiling or checking if I knew the lyrics. 😉 Sorry, still don’t know all of them, working on it. 😛 It was wonderful to have all of them so close, share smiles with the guys on stage and my POTF sisters by my side, singing, dancing, smiling so much my face almost hurt. The band looked liked they were having just as much fun as we were, smiling, leaning on to each other, visiting each other and watching each other play. 🙂 It never ceases to amaze me how well they work together as a band, how they subtly give each other room to shine and stand back, only to step out into the spotlight moments later when it’s their turn. They work their butts of on every stage they play, yet it never seems to be all work and no fun. There are always times when they look completely lost in the music or the moment with big smiles on their faces, enjoying what they do. This night I saw it happen a lot. 😀

The sound was great and each song had the power to carry me, make me sing at the top of my lungs and forget the world around me. I was very emotional and close to tears several times, but they were always happy ones. It was a special concert in many ways, touching me deeply and I was grateful for being there amongst people I love listening to music that speaks to my soul still just as much as it did the very first time I heard it. How lucky I am!

During one song Marko walked off the stage right at the center where I stood and sang from the audience. I alternated between watching him out there, surrounded by happy fans and looking at the other guys on stage, playing on, filling the space he left. At other gigs when he did this I have seen them look concerned, watching closely just in case, but this time they seemed rather relaxed and just played on. There were only positive vibes coming from the audience that night. During another song he started doing dance moves that E. and I copied. He noticed and we both saw his face light up with an idea just before he decided to teach everyone the dance. It was so funny! 😀

At the start of ‘Locking up the Sun’ Jaska grabbed a drumstick from Jari and hit the cymbals like a madman while Ollie jumped high in the air, his hair flying. Jani was all over the place, having to watch out in order not to hit anyone in the audience with his bass and Jari never stopped smiling. Once, when Ollie and Jani tried to change places and pass behind Marko, he stepped back and they got stuck behind him. 😀 Later on, Jaska used a beer bottle to play slide guitar. 🙂 For ‘Stay’ Marko asked us to get out our mobile phones and hold up the lights on them. Someone apparently had a lighter because he commented on seeing a “real flame”. Thus I got out my lighter too and by the end of the song it fell apart. 😀 Captain, as he often does, conducted our sing along.

When announcing ‘Once Upon A Playground Rainy’ Marko told us they were gonna play “the one about Tony”. All of us laughed while quite a few members of the audience where like “What???” A. and C. had brought a sign that read “We are all Tony?!” this time which Captain commented with a thumbs up and the others laughed at. Before we knew what was happening, Poets played ‘Carnival of Rust’. For the acoustic part of the show they had not wanted to leave stage because it would have been difficult to get back so they just leaned on the walls by the side when they were not playing and they did the same now before the encores.

Suddenly Marko walked off the stage and I thought he was going to go away after all, but instead he stood between G. and G.’s daughter, leaned on their shoulders, one on each side and watched Ollie playing his beautiful guitar solo at the start of ‘War’. The look on G.’s face was priceless! I was so happy for her and could not stop smiling. <3

‘War’ was just as amazing as always and with ‘Lift’ right after I took the opportunity to release all the pent-up emotions, jump and scream. I never wanted to stop, but even the greatest gig ends eventually and after the guys took their bows there was only ‘Children of the Sun’ left. Marko said it as a good moment to join hands so we did, swaying with the music, singing along one last time. The song is such a beautiful statement of unity amongst people that each one of us should remember from time to time. I felt safe, happy and at home, singing, smiling, being lost in the moment. The guys left after a final bow and we stood there a little dazed, slowly gathering ourselves and our things.

We all went and talked to Flight Brigade for a while, some of us buying CDs, some of us having a drink. The nice folks at the venue called us a taxi, G. left to catch a train home and the rest of us ended up at the hotel for an after party. We shared favorite show moments, pictures, food and drinks, making more good memories. We also planned making T-Shirts for the guys. Since E. was leaving in Osnabrück the whole plan hinged on getting them done in Dortmund within a day to hand them over at the Osnabrück gig. We decided what to print on them and I promised to find a place that would do the shirts. It just *had* to be possible. The party lasted long into the night and slightly drunk I made my way to my hotel at 2:30 in the morning, still smiling like a loon. Awesome does not even begin to describe it! See you tomorrow. 😀

Setlist:

Intro: Shadow Play
Drama for Life
Daze
The Child in Me
Dreaming Wide Awake
Diamonds for Tears
The Game
Stay
Someone Special
Sleep
Running Out of Time
Once Upon a Playground Rainy
Locking Up the Sun
Carnival of Rust

Encore
War
Lift
Children of the Sun

Clearview tour 2016/17: 8 gigs down, 16 to go, next stop: Dortmund

Comments are closed.