Poets of the Fall – The Voice Fashion Week, Helsinki; October 8th 2011

Tears. Of course, there always are. Exhaustion mixed with a little bit of melancholia and a whole lot of happiness. Once the rush is over and I’m slowly touching ground again I cry tears of joy, because once again I have been lucky enough to be part of something amazing.

My weekend started with getting up in the middle of the night and going to the airport in the rain for an early morning flight. Helsinki greeted me with sunshine, beautiful as always. It seems so long ago that I’ve lost my heart to this city, even though it has been only four years. I’ve come a long way since.

Fast forward to 3 p.m.: meeting my friends at the train station, going for a late lunch / early dinner. Good food, stories, shared memories and much laughter. Then on to the venue – the first people there as usual and shamefully underdressed  compared to all the fashionistas. Front row was ours, most people actually wanted to see the fashion show. More friends, smiles and tiredness finally catching up with me – waiting.

Out of nowhere Ollie and Marko appeared, saying hello to us before the gig. They didn’t stay long, and hardly anyone even noticed them. 🙂

About an hour later, the finally came on stage, where four uncomfortable looking chairs were already set up. The stage lights were so bright I contemplated digging out my sunglasses but did not. This didn’t spoil my enjoyment though. Acoustic gigs are such a rare treat that I opted for enjoying what was happening rather than trying to document things.

They started with ‘Dreaming wide awake’ which was beautiful, followed by a flawless ‘War’. During the second song Marko finally took of his sunglasses and by song number 3, ‘Diamonds for Tears’ the lyrics trouble stared, i.e. Marko forgot bits and pieces. He covered it well, but the die-hard fans knew it of course. We got a good laugh of it. It didn’t bother us at all.

To our surprise we got to hear ‘You’re still here’ – such a beautiful song, certainly made for being played acoustically. The awesome boss-nova version of ‘Sorry go round was played’ as well. Marko did his very own version of a Shakira-themed belly dance – Ollie barely managed not to laugh out loud an I don’t blame him. It was only one of the many funny moments that night.

‘Desire’ was played also, a song I had not hear in a long time. When it was over, Marko said they’d play a brand new song now, but when we cheered he told us “truth will make a liar” and announced ‘Lift’ instead. First Ollie, Jaska and Jani needed to find the right beat though, but later on Ollie surprised everyone by actually playing the solo on acoustic guitar. 🙂 The lyrics were also twisted a little. 😉

‘Illusion and Dream’ as well as ‘Carnival of Rust’ completed the set. It was a beautiful gig and I’m deeply grateful to those who helped me getting tickets. I would not have wanted to miss this for the world. I certainly hope the guys enjoyed it as much as I did.

Too soon it was time to go and say goodbye to most of my friends. I was way to wound up to sleep and went out for a final drink with K. and M. One last hug and we all went our seperate ways. Until next time. See you soon!

Setlist
Dreaming wide awake
War
Diamonds for Tears
You’re still here
Sorry go round
Desire
Lift
Illusion & Dream
Carnival of Rust