And then you smile though it aches

Poets of the Fall – MS Vinking Grace; March 10th, 2018

It had been almost three months since the last Poets of the Fall concert and I’d been missing the guys, so I was happy to see them again. A new tour, for their 15th anniversary no less, would of course go with a new setlist and I’d been wondering what may or may not be on there. In my head was a list of songs I was hoping for, but sadly, none of those were played. Yet, they still managed to surprise me and it turned out to be a great concert that did exactly what I’d hoped it would do: make me forget about real life for a little while. No matter what the circumstances, these guys will always manage to do that. 🙂

The cruise concerts was the end of a ten day vacation for me. The first part of said vacation had been all sorts of wonderful, but the second part was rather exhausting so I was happy to get a small break before returning to work on Monday. I flew to Helsinki on a Friday evening, spent the night at my friend K.’s place and the next day we met A. for lunch before setting out to Turku and boarding the Viking Grace. There were not so many of the usual suspects around, but we all met at the entrance to the club an hour after boarding, said hello, waited, then filled up the for row and settled in for more waiting.

I chatted with S. for a while, telling her I did not feel it yet, i.e. I was curious, but not yet excited. We discussed the possible setlist, stated our wishes (we were both wrong!). Boat gigs can be tricky, because you never know which audience you are going to get, but the first few rows seemed to be fans for the first time in my personal history of boat gigs, they did not allow alcoholic drinks at the front. I liked it. 🙂 Time went by surprisingly fast, the music played by the DJ was not too annoying and eventually the guys were announced. I had just said something about wondering what the new intro would be when it started. I liked it, but had now clue which song it might lead to.

The band walked on stage one by one and we cheered for them loudly while the intro turned into the first song. Marko started singing and the lyrics were right there in my mind for me to sing along. still, I had no idea which song I was singing and it took me halfway through the first verse to realize it was ‘Overboard’. Really? Wow! That was totally unexpected. I immediately turned to K., because I know it is her favorite song, but she was busy staring at the guys in awe and did not even notice me. 😉 What a fun song to start with. I honestly could not say when I had heard this one for the last time or if I ever did at all. Possible at one of my first two concerts, but pretty sure not after that. Nice move guys! 😀

We didn’t stay in the past for long though as the next song was ‘Daze’, time for the audience to prove we could sing along. It worked too, of course it did. 😀 Slowly, the real life problems that had been occupying my mind released their hold on me and when Marko asked if we wanted to hear the new single, I screamed along with everyone else, allowed myself to fall into the lyrics of ‘False Kings’ and was finally there, fully enjoying the concert. I love everything about the song and hearing it live was brilliant.

Next up was ‘Diamonds 4 Tears’ and I turned to S. because I had told her earlier that I hoped they would not bring it back. It was a brief “why oh why?” moment for me, then I shrugged and sang along anyway. With every band I have at least one song that feels overplayed to me, but just seems to belong on the setlist. It’s all part of the game. 😉 The next song made up for that though. It was ‘Shallow’, an old love of mine, that gets rarely played and always brings a big smile to my face. I can still remember the first time I’ve heard it and it has not lost any of its magic since.

As far as surprises are concerned, I thought this was it and the rest of the gig would be the usual suspects. Boy was I wrong! No song could have been more perfect for me right then and here than ‘Kamikaze Love’. The perfect song to jump to and scream out the lyrics at the top of my lungs. 😀 Then as a counterpoint to take us back to calmer waters ‘Given and denied’ came along. There are other songs on ‘Twilight Theater’ that I would have loved to hear more, but I always welcome this one. It fit too and brought me close to tears. <3

‘Late Goodbye’ was back as well of course. It would have been strange to celebrate the 15th anniversary without their very first single. They unexpectedly said goodbye right after and the only thought on my mind was “Wait! This was too short!” When they came back and went right into ‘Children of the Sun’ I though it was really over already and could not believe how fast time had gone by. Wrong again! It was not the last song in the set any more. 🙂

‘Dreaming wide awake’ had me jumping again and when ‘War’ came along I wanted to hug them for putting it back on the setlist. The song brought me to tears again for many reasons. It was just perfect for me. with ‘Lift’ and ‘Carnival of Rust’ the concert ended on a familiar note. The guys took a final bow, waved and left. I wanted to rewind the entire gig and play it all over again. It was over too soon.

I loved the gig, loved the interaction between the guys, loved watching them work, loved the little gestures of recognition from the guys. I smiled at the red beanie Marko was wearing. It felt very retro to me, even though back in the day it was a red baseball cap if I recall correctly. 😉  I liked the look and am curious now what is going to be next. I fully expect the red Adidas jacket to make a re-appearance soon. 😛 Overall I liked the setlist too, but I had the feeling it did not really flow yet. It took me quite a while to get into it, but of course that may have just been me. We will see if it stays the same or not.

When it was over we sat down for drinks, talked for a while and then hit the dance floor until the wee hours of the morning. It was a good end to a fun night. 🙂

pictures of this concert

Setlist (not entirely sure this is complete or the right order)

Overboard
Daze
False Kings
Diamonds 4 Tears
Shallow
Kamikaze Love
Given and denied
Late Goodbye

Children of the Sun
Dreaming wide awake
War
Lift
Carnival of Rust

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