Poets of the Fall – The Garage, Glasgow; October 12th, 2018

Day three of my Poets of the Fall UK tour was the best experience so far. It was one of those magical gigs where everything was right. All the important things anyway like the general mood, the audience and the performance. The venue was small and hot which isn’t bad, but the lights and sound left a few things to be desired. Yet the band made me forget all about that, because they gave us one hell of a show. Mixed with my own positive feelings that night it summed up to something brilliant. After the gig, I walked out smiling like a loon (for those of you who remember: grenzdebiles Grinsen), happiness and faith in the band fully restored. 😀

It was a long trip to Glasgow after a rather short night. Got a little over four hours of sleep and started the journey at my friends’ place in London at 6 am. Tour mode: on. It was a direct train and a long ride so I could have used it to sleep, but I chose to blog instead and listen to some of the ‘Ultraviolet’ to at least get a rough idea of the lyrics. 😉 It was nice and I spent some time crying when the words hit home. When I finally arrived I was exhausted and could have used a nap, but instead I got a 25 minute walk through the pouring rain and waiting at the hotel bar for an hour for my room. Meh. A. arrived shortly after, completely soaked. We hugged and spent some time catching up before going out for pre-show pizza. Belly filled we searched for and found the venue, being the first at the door. Since we had nowhere else to be and a roof over our heads, we decided to stay. Slowly more people arrived: from Northern Ireland, the US and Spain. Just as I started if there was anyone from Scotland some locals showed up. They looked familiar too and were at the Glasgow show last year.

We spent the time talking to B. and B. from Wisconsin, said hello to Tiia and Satu when they arrived and eventually wondered if we were at the right door because the building held several venue. One guy checked with the staff and they said we were gonna go in from there. Shortly after six, someone came around the building and picked us up. We went in at the back after all. Nobody even checked our bags, it was just down a few stairs and right into the meet & greet.

The guys were seated in two booths as we walked in. That immediately felt more welcoming than the long table in Bristol. A. and I were the first to meet Captain, Marko and Ollie and they greeted us with big smiles. Ollie noted that A. had cut her hair. We talked a little bit about our trip and the shitty weather, joked. Then I took the opportunity to ask them about this year’s Christmas concert and they told me it was not in their hands and they didn’t know yet, but there would be more gigs in Finland next year for sure. The final thing I did was thank them for restoring my faith in the band which I though I might have lost. They really did with the first two shows. We moved on to “the J table”, chatted with them briefly too and picked our spots in front row. Now we were waiting for everyone else to get done and told B.and B. to get a front row spot as well.

When everyone gathered for the group picture, I asked Marko for a hug and he gladly obliged, noting that it’s been a long time. It has been indeed. <3 Looks like I’m back to gathering one hug at a time, a since I got one from Jaska after the Bristol show. Fine with me. 🙂 Taking a picture of course included some joking around and moving people. The guys stepped up on the stage and sat down. Marko told us they were gonna play a few songs for us and talked a bit more. Eventually he turned to Ollie and said “Oh, you’re still here” and Ollie noted “Good one”. so I knew what was coming. It was a lovely version of the song. <3 They added ‘Roses’, always a favorite of mine. That was a lot more like it. 😀 If the song selection keeps going like this from now on I’ll be happy! Still not 100% convinced, but getting there.

Blackout Problems started at 7:30 again and this time around I really loved their set. It was the same as in London, but with each night they are growing on me. I don’t know if it’s me getting used to their music or them getting better and it doesn’t matter in the end. The important part is enjoying it. They sure had fun! Their energy was great and people clapped along early on. Energy was flowing back and forth between the stage and the audience. I#m starting to recognize the songs and a little bit of the lyrics too which made it even better. When the singer made his way into the crowd during ‘Difference’, people seemed surprised, but caught on quickly. The band sure looked like found their place and felt comfortable. They were more relaxed than in Bristol and went with the flow. It was awesome and when they jumped, I did too. It just felt like the right thing to do. Towards the end of the show, during ‘Rome’ the singer hopped off the stage again with his guitar and ended up playing standing on the bar. Their tech guy ran after him with the microphone when e realized he wasn’t coming back any time soon. It was all sorts of awesome and the perfect ending to their set.

Setlist

Kaos
Difference
Limit
Kontrol
Rome

I was in a great mood already and enjoyed watching Glen and the rest of the crew changing the stage. Talked to one of the UK crew who watched over us for the m&g to ask about my photo pass and he said he’d already told security I was OK to take pictures. 😀 For some reason Glen and Marko H. were standing across from each other and bumping bellys. We got a good laugh out of it. 🙂 Time passed quickly and I was getting more excited by the minute. The last Glasgow show had been amazing and I had a good feeling about that one. Since the lights had been pretty bad for Blackout Problems I momentarily considered putting my camera away, but didn’t in the end.

The lights went down and people chanted, I can’t remember what it was exactly, but something along the lines of “Now we fucking go!”. You could feel the high expectations and excitement in the air! To “Whatever you do… don’t scream” the entire audience responded with screaming extra loud. It was great. I’m starting to like the intro too. This show was off to a good start! Once again the first song was ‘Dreaming wide awake’ so I guess they are going to stick with that order of songs now. It rocked and I was jumping already, of course pointing at them in turn “I dream *you* wide awake”. My mood was great and they looked like they were having fun too. B., next to me was in awe. Yep, we all remember our first gig, that is what it felt like! She handed Marko a rose and he only took it apart a little, trying to put it behind his ear where it didn’t stay long. Eventually, after carrying it for a while he put it down on Ollie’s pedal board.

“I want you to know I still love you” I pantomimed during ‘Dancing on broken Glass’. Ollie was the only one who noticed I believe and he gave me a smile in return. 🙂 I’m getting better with singing along too, but I still can’t remember all the lyrics. Not the case for ‘False Kings’ where I sang my heart out with every word. 🙂 I love that song! “Inside each one of us there is a temple of though” Marko announced and the cheers that followed showed how much loved the song is. It has always meant a lot to me and I still want to be that much in love again. It might have been during that song that Marko reached out for the first time, shaking B.’s hand, then mine and a few others. Much later he locked fingers with her for a while and I joined in too. It was a beautiful moment. <3

‘Rogue’ was a blast, with me getting some up close views of Jaska, Jani and Ollie playing. I can never get enough of watching their fingers work. 😀 ‘Standstill’ followed and really killed me this time. Marko told us he enjoyed it, because it is one of his favorite tunes to sing. I got quite emotional over it and was very close to tears. The lyrics are really fitting right now and it feels like I have taken more than one step after the fall already but there are still many to come. It is quite alright though, it’s all part of the game. :’)

I loved the entire concert, even though objectively it had the worst lights and sound so far. Still, the atmosphere in the room and the wonderful people by my side made up for all of that. I was happy to have A. there with me. While I like to have a gig to myself once in a while it is almost always better to share the experience. By the looks of it I had not promised too much when I told her she’d like it. I enjoyed ‘Brighter than the sun’ and wondered why I still could not remember all the words. Maybe it’s time for a few more listens? Marko made us sing at the end and we did it loudly. It sounded pretty nice too. 🙂 Then he instructed us to switch on the lights on our phones for ‘Cradled in Love’. I turned to A. and mouthed “If I must”, shrugged and did it anyway until I put the phone down to take some pictures.

There was a pillar almost at the center of the stage that made it difficult for me to take pictures of Jari, but it also made a good prop for Marko to hug or the others to lean on at times. 🙂 Jani was throwing kisses at people in the audience and everyone showed the brightest smiles. They all seemed so happy to be there. I loved dancing to ‘My Dark Disquiet’ and ‘Daze’. I really don’t thinkI could stand still during those two. From time to time I looked over at B., being lost in the music and smiled. It is always wonderful to see anyone attending their first Poets concert. She had her gig face on and got a lot of attention too. Once, when Marko took her hand, I moved back a little to take a picture of them together. At another time he leaned out towards us and we both held on to his outstretched hand for a while.  <3

As always the main set ended too quickly. Before I knew it the guys said goodbye and we were clapping and cheering for them to come back out. ‘Locking up the sun’ went by in a happy blur of jumping, dancing and singing along at the top of my lungs. 🙂 At the start of ‘The Sweet Escape’ Marko sang some other song, but I wasn’t really paying attention, because I was watching Jari in the back. My tired mind wanted me to believe that he made an attempt at Chris de Burgh’s ‘Lady in Red’, but it was probably something else entirely. I just wanted to believe that, because thanks to the little fandeer Pam I know know that is the song the into to ‘The Sweet Escape’ resembles. *giggles* It’s fine, I actually do like both songs. This time I did OK on the sing along too. Ollie was checking and seemed satisfied with my efforts.

The show was winding down too quickly and I was not ready to let go yet. It felt absolutely perfect. The music, the people around me, the interactions with the band. I was so very present in the moment that at times things seemed to happen in slow motion, only to speed up in the next second and leaving me feeling like I missed a million things. There was way too much going on too. Luckily, the analytical “let’s try to remember this”-mode was only there in passing and I was able to fully enjoy going with the flow, living the music, singing at the top of my lungs, jumping like crazy and then just being in awe for a while. Sometimes I wonder how they still do it after all this time and all these shows, how they still manage to capture my attention so fully and take me away from real life into another realm. To this day I have no answer. Maybe that is why I have to keep coming back…

Eventually there was only ‘Choir of Cicadas’ left. Since I don’t know the lyrics I settled for watching the guys and taking pictures. At the beginning of the song Jani gets a break so he used it to drink water. Then he threw the empty bottle behind him (without looking I think) and it cam every close to Jari, i.e. flew over his head. Jari just looked and cracked up laughing. When Jari laughed so hard I could not help myself and cracked up as well. Then Jani started laughing, either because of Jari or me. It was hilarious 😀 It also may have spoiled the song a bit, at least for the people around me. I am so sorry, it was not my intention to spoil anything for you.

So it all ended on a happy high note. B. and B. were over the moon with happiness, saying Poets played exactly the songs they wanted to hear. A. loved it too, all was well. We went over to the merch table to say hello to Tiia and Satu. Some joking ensued with the tour manager. At the meet & greet he had told us there’d be a group pic and I was like “I know” so he grinned said “Why don’t you tell the people then?” and walked away. So I did. After the gig Tiia told him who I was and he’s like “Yeah, I know” so I concluded that I must be famous and asked “Or infamous?”. Bit of both apparently. As we finally left the venue we ran into him again and I asked his name: Ben. Nice guy. 🙂

After establishing that B. and B. had a flight to catch from London at 3 in the afternoon on Sunday, we had concluded that they had more than enough time to come to Nottingham with us the following day (a Saturday) and they didn’t need all that much convincing to agree. We had a few drinks, walked them home and promised to pick them up the next morning on our way to the train station. Goodnight, see you soon.

pictures of this concert

Poets of the Fall Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Three gigs down, nine to go. Next stop: Nottingham

Setlist

Dreaming Wide Awake
Dancing on Broken Glass
False Kings
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Standstill
Brighter Than the Sun
Cradled in Love
My Dark Disquiet
War
Daze
Sleep

Encore:
Locking Up the Sun
The Sweet Escape
Lift
Carnival of Rust
Choir of Cicadas

Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Three shows down, nine to go