Poets of the Fall – Rock City, Nottingham; October 13th, 20

Poets of the Fall’s concert in Nottingham had the best venue of the tour this far. The stage had enough room for the guys to move, the lights were perfect and the sound was great too. It was probably the biggest venue on the tour and not sold out, but that didn’t matter one bit, because the audience was a good one and the guys had a blast. Despite being dead tired I thoroughly enjoyed the concert and there were many good and funny moments

We had an early start in Glasgow so after being out for d’rinks the previous night it meant about 5 hours of sleep for A. and me. We got ready, picked up B. and B. from their hotel and walked to the station in the rain. It was a long journey to Nottingham and thanks to storm warnings in Scotland we were delayed for an hour. Eventually we made it though and the city greeted us with sunshine. All I wanted to do was sleep, but instead we checked in, met up with L. and got ready. A quick dinner and off to the venue we were. The sheer number of people surprised us until we realized there was another concert going on at the same time. I waited with the others until they got in for VIP and then was 7th in line for the regular tix. Not a bad position. 🙂 The time passed quickly and to my surprise L. and I got to stand second row center just behind the others. I immediately noticed how good the lights were. It would have been ideal for taking pictures, but being second row I decided to give the camera a rest for one night and just enjoy the gig.

Blackout Problems are getting better every night. They sounded amazing and made good use of the stage as well, jumping around like crazy. Watching them is just so much fun and I am starting to recognize the songs now too. The setlist changed a little from the previous night with ‘Queen’ replacing ‘Kontrol’. It was a good song. The singer instructed us all to count “One, two, three, four” after he started counting “One, two”. It worked beautifully! I love how enthusiastic they are and also how they thank Poets every night for bringing them and the audience for even listening. They get a lot of points in my book for being nice people. Most of the audience seemed to agree and some clapped along which earned us the comment of “having the right dea”. ;)After a few times I’ve realized their music is very danceable so I spent a lots of time just swaying with it and even head-banging a little. Moste people in the audience seemed to like their set, the general mood was good and when the singer went into the audience during ‘Rome’, asking everyone around him to jump, most people did and he finally won over the crowd completely. I was already smiling before they had finished their set. I really need to ask them for their names next time. 😀

Setlist

Kaos
Difference
Limit
Queen
Rome

The stage was larger than the others we had seen on this tour so far and therefore Jari and Captain had their raisers to stand or sit on in the back. It meant we could see them better and the rest of the band had the opportunity to stand up there too from time to time, visiting them and stepping from one raiser to the other. 😀 I tried hard to keep track of what everyone was doing and especially paying attention to the guys in the back. Still, I must have missed lots of interactions, because I was focussed on one person or the other. The only difference when I use my camera is, that I try to capture the interesting/funny/cool moments, but I think my focus shifts about the same between people with or without and there is never the chance to see everything that is going on. At the front it is is easier to see the small gestures, while from the back I get a better overall picture, but sometimes I wish I could stop the action for a moment and look at it again with a different focus.

The setlist has not changed since London, so apparently the guys are happy with it now. It works really well too. They have always had a knack for finding the right mixture between ballads and rockers. 😀 Every night, I get to know it a little better and every night I remember a little more of the lyrics as well. Ollie even stopped checking on me. 😉 By now I had reached the point where I could start figuring out the things the guys do during a certain song like Jaska taking a drumstick and playing the cymbals for ‘Cradled in Love’ or Jani playing an awesome bass solo during ‘Brighter than the sun’ (yep, I had noticed a solo before, but could not remember which song it belonged to 😉 ). Overall though, the concert passed in a happy blur, because I had reached the point of tiredness where I just could not keep up any more. That didn’t make it any less fun though. I was jumping and dancing and singing and generally having a good time. 😀

There were only few photographers at the front and Ollie was posing for one of them. I saw pictures everywhere, but especially remember one point just before War when Captain was all lit up in blue and his shadow was clearly visible on the wall behind him. I even framed it with my hands, because it was such a good picture. That was one moment during the show I was tempted to pick up my camera after all, but I knew I would not put it down again if I did. For once it was nice having my hands free and when Marko leaned out during ‘The Dark Disquiet’ and shook hands, I was right there too. 🙂 Being behind A. and B. at the front was a perfect spot. 🙂

As they often do, the guys interacted with the audience a lot, like Jani throwing a kiss to B. and when she looked surprised mimicking like it was exploding. 😀 There were a lot of smiles exchanged as well and of course the audience picked up on all the cues we got for clapping and later holding up our phone lights. The band, as they often do, were visiting each other with Jaska, Jani and Ollie spending a lot of time on the drum and keyboard raisers or pointing at each other with their instruments. At one point, Jari was drumming standing up and Captain did a lot of leaning back at the keyboards, not to mention all the hand gestures, sometime sin unison with Ollie and always fitting with the song they wer just playing. <3 At the end of ‘Brighter than the Sun’ Jani walked over to Marko and ran his hand down his back. It was just one of many gestures of appreciation I saw that night.

Marko sang a few lines to me, which I often forget right after. This time, it was during ‘Temple of Thought’, “And if words should fail here, I’ll just read the way you sound”. I love these moments of connection, even though I can often not remember the line exactly or just forget how to sing any of the as soon as he looks at me. 😉 After the show in Glasgow I was talking to B. and she said the same thing: “He looked at me and I forgot how to sing!” Yes, Marko tends to have that effect on people. *smiles sheepishly*. We had another memorable lyrics moment at this show when I was “turning back time” with my hand during ‘Locking up the Sun’ and Marko gave me a thumbs up for it. 😀

The audience was enthusiastic overall, if maybe a bit more quiet than the one in Glasgow. From the front, the room felt packed. Only if one walked towards the back it was noticeable that the venue was not sold out. Either way, we made some noise, some a little too much for my liking. There was one Finnish woman who kept shouting the guys’ names and telling Jani to take his shirt off. While I don’t mind the occasional funny interlude, I do not appreciate it when this happens in the middle of a beautiful soft song like ‘Standstill’. Neither did L., turned and looked at her. She seemed to get the message then. Despite the interruption, the song made me choke up and later, when they played ‘War’, I even started crying. They still move me after all these years, even though their concerts usually make me too happy to shed tears.

During ‘Rogues’, Marko did not walk off stage this time as he had done the previous night, but stayed on the left side of the stage, sat down, and watched the others do their job, looking as enthralled as I feel when I get to watch them. As he walked back he told us that watching them play was amazing “and I get to do it every night!”.  He also played air violin along with them, but most people seemed to be actually focussed on the rest of the guys and not watching him. 😉 Later, it might have been during the bass solo, Marko sat down and watched Jani play. I love it when they admire each other’s skill’s and also when they point them out for the audience to see like saying “You should be watching this guy right now!” <3 And in case you ever get bared with looking at the band (yeah, right, who could ever? 😉 ) you can always check on Glen, the stage tech. You can see him interact with them all the time and sometime she even gives cues to the audience. It can be quite entertaining to see. The best part is always exchanging guitars with Ollie. They have a routine that almost looks like a little dance at times. 😀

Time flew and before I realized it, the main set was already over. Where did all the songs go and how could most of it be over already? Did they leave out a few? Of course they did not, time just always speeds up as soon as the first notes of the intro come over the speakers. ‘Sleep’ was lovely, but didn’t make anyone sleepy. Quite the contrary. We were yelling and screaming for more. Come on guys, you can’t leave us like that!

‘The Sweet Escape’ has become a highlight of the show for me, together with ‘Standstill’. The former got to me the first time I heard it, while the latter took a little longer to grow on me. I relate to both though and ‘The Sweet Escape’ has some amazing lines aside from containing the album title. There are not all that many people in my life who have seen me come undone and then stuck around to see beyond and those are the ones dearest to me. The beauty of those lines is that they have several layers, like most of Poets’ songs do. <3 Right now, this is a perfect song for me. Next year, it may be completely different.

At the start of ‘Lift’ (or I think it was there) Ollie and Marko did a little dance, i.e. one stepping towards the other, while the other stepped back and then some mock fight routines where Marko seemed to be hitting Ollie with an invisible whip. Don’t ask, I have no idea. 😀 The song itself was a jumpfest for me and many others, happily bouncing up and down in tune with the music, screaming when asked to do so and of course moving “on and on and on” as well. It never gets old. Hearing ‘Carnival of Rust’ live for the 205th time was still as amazing as when I heard it first. That song will always have a special place in my heart. At the very end of the show, Jani stepped up to Jaska from behind, gathered him in his arms and lifted him up, while both were laughing. Ollie hugged Captain, Captain hugged Jani in turn and then Jani hugged Ollie. Of course they all took a selfie with us before they left.

We gathered our wits and our belongings, said goodbye to a few people and walked out. After a quick drink, we returned to our hostel where B. and B. had left their things with us and sat in the kitchen for a while, chatting. They were going out, but A., L. and I felt too beat to do so. We hugged them goodbye, wished them a safe trip home and retreated to bed for some much needed sleep. Onwards to Manchester the next day!

Poets of the Fall Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Four gigs down, eight to go. Next stop: Manchester

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: Four shows down, eight to go