Poets of the Fall – Nosturi, Helsinki; December 20th, 2019

I’ve alway thought of Poets of the Fall’s last concert in Helsinki in December as their Christmas show, no matter if they did anything christmassy or not. So when they did not play any December gig last year, something was missing and I felt all the happier seeing them announce one for this year. Never mind there was going to be one in Himos the following day – this was it, my last Poets of the Fall show for this year and even this decade. it was a beautiful, happy, fun show and a fitting goodbye to Nosturi, the venue that is going to close at the end of this year. I’m glad I got to be there to witness this.

After a brief stop at my mom’s place to drop of my suitcase (since I won’t be going home again until next year), I was on my way to Berlin airport to fly to Helsinki. everything went smoothly, I arrived in the evening and took a bus go my fiend K.’s new place. After a brief hello we went straight to bed, since she had to work the next morning. On show day, I relaxed on her couch with the cats until she came home, chatted for a bit and then set of to the venue to see if anyone was already there. A handful of people greeted me, two familiar faces amongst them. Funnily enough there was only one Finn yet, three Germans, one French, one Ukranian (I think) and a few Russians. We talked, we had a good time, P. was taking polaroid pictures and even got to say hello to some of the band members. Tiia came and I handed over my band and crew presents (home made chocolates instead of cookies this time). More people arrived, including K., but we did not see any other familiar faces.

Knowing the drill with the coat check, we prepared in advance and stood in the cold without our jackets for a few minutes. Luckily the doors opened on time. K. handed in the jackets as I went upstair. Funnily enough, Jani was in the way, walking slowly upstairs, so busy with his phone he didn’t even notice the doors had open until I made a joke about him blocking the way. I scored two front row spots for us and we settled down for more waiting. Nosturi carries good memories, because my second ever Poets show (and my first one in Finland) took place there. K. and I started reminiscing about it. I wondered if they’d do something Christmas-related or just make it a regular show – wait and see. There were still two hours to go until the concert and after the first rsh, the place only filled slowly. I still didn’t see any familiar faces until just before the show when R. appeared with his camera.

It might have been my imagination, but the start of the intro seemed different – it sounded like a sleigh riding by, before the actual intro started. Hm, Christmas show after all? It remained the only thing, but was a very nice touch. Then the usual hypnotic drums, designed to clap along and “whatever you do…..” – K. next to me was radiating happiness. she’d said she wanted to stop at 100 shows and I’d dragged her along to this one. A good decision. 🙂 “…don’t scream” – yeah, right! 😀 As the guys walked out one by one we screamed some more and finally Marko held out the mic towards us for those who did not get the memo. 😉

I loved it from the start, happy to be there, happy to have K. by my side and fully into the songs. Just as I sang “’cause I can’t let you go!” Ollie looked at me and smiled. It is true, I can’t, but why would I want to let go of something this amazing and wonderful? Most of the guys smiled at me at one point during the show or another and yes, I got sung to as well. <3 I felt very much alive right then and there, forgetting the world outside for a while. Despite sbeing somewhat crammed in front row, I managed to jump for ‘Locking up the Sun’, even whileK. and I were turning back time with our hands in unison. I don’t think anyone else did, but for me this is so much part of the song that it would feel weird not to.

My camera was safely at home and my mobile in the back pocket of my jeans, so I was mostly too slow in digging it out whenever an interesting moment happened. Taking pictures with my mind works just as well and I loved the freedom of movement I gained from not having a heavy camera around my neck or slung over my shoulder. Doing my best to watch all f the guys equally and to see all their non verbal communication, I am still sure I didn’t spot half of it. So much happens at the same time. It doesn’t matter though, no matter who my eyes followed, it was a joy watching them play their hearts out and look happy doing it. Whenever I checked on K. by my side or my new friends from the queue they all had the same happy look on their faces too. All was well, this is what a Poets of the Fall show feels like.

‘False Kings’ was a killer – it is such an amazing song I just cannot get enough of and I love seeing the guys getting into the grove, especially olli and captain underlining the bass at the starts with their hands (if you’ve seen it, there is an image on your mind now, if you haven’t, I don#t know how to describe it to you). Funnily enough I had somehow forgotten the song was in the set and expected ‘Temple of Thought’ already. That one was next and brilliant as ever. 🙂 For the start of ‘Rogue’, Marko got us all to clap along and then left while we watched the rest of the band. So many interactions happened like Jani throwing hearts towards Glen or Ollie and Jaska nodding to each other from opposite ends of the stage before going into full guitar hero mode. Captain was in his own zone, smiling happily and only Jari remained mostly invisible in artificial fog.

‘The Sweet Escape’ brought out all the phone lights and for ‘My Dark Disquiet’ dancing shoes might have been useful. It’s always a fun song. Things got calmer for ‘In a Perfect World’ and I almost got all the lyrics down now so when Marko sang to me I could sing along. 🙂 There is a nice picture of me on Ollie’s Instagram, hand over my heart, singing along with my eyes closed. I like to think this happened during ‘War’, but I have no idea if it’s true. What is do know is that Jani and Marko were standing in the back, hugging tightly during Jaska’s solo. Awww!

‘Daze’ had us sing along and for ‘Choice Millionaire’ we didn’t only bounce, but enough of us did the arms up and down movement with the guys that Jaska gave us a thumbs up. He also did a lot of pointing back and forth with Glen. If someone had told me I’d enjoy that song when I heard it for the first time, I would not have believed it. These days it is one of the most fun songs at any gig. 😀 The set ended with ‘Late Goodbye’ already and the audience made a pretty decent choir. Someone to my right held out a teddy bear for Marko and he gladly accepted it, blowing a kiss in return.

The encores were wild and a lot of fun. Somewhere along the way, while Ollie was standing in the back on the keyboard raiser, Jani thrust the neck of his bass repeatedly between Ollie’s legs. I started laughing, looked at K. and mouthed “What the fuck?” Marko saw me, probably wondered what was going on behind his back, but instead of looking, did some goofy dancing, drawing all attention back to him. 😀 During ‘Lift’, Marko’s mic failed at the begoinning and the first line got completely lost. K. was just saying “That ain’t right” when the sound came back. Meanwhile Jani decide to climb the high speaker on the side of the stage and looked like he was going to lose balance so Glen rushed over there to help. Once up there, he stood above our heads for the rest of the song.

‘Carnival of Rust’ then brought the show to a close and for a moment I considered filming it, because it had been one of two songs I filed at my first Poets gig here. In the end I just enjoyed, unable to keep the smile off of my face. How can one band be so good? Afterwards they said goodbye, bowed, waved and wished us a merry Christmas. Jani kissed Marko on the cheek and in turn Captain lifted him up. There was a lot of hugging going on too and of course one final picture.

We all agreed that it had been a great gig and headed to the bar in the back for a drink. On the way I met a few familiar people and got some hugs. P. invited us for a Salmiakki (yummy!) and eventually we made it downstairs to get our coats and check out the merch. They had old T-Shirts on special offer, but I had all those. There was one ‘False Kings’ shirt left that K. and I both had set our eyes on. It fit her a lot better than me though and I gladly left it to her. Jari walked out and said goodbye, Jaska headed to the downstairs bar and some of us considered asking him for a picture. Meanwhile I met S., whom I had not seen in a while and we reconnected, hugging for a long time. Finally outside, we saw Ollie and he stayed for a polaroid with all of us. I learned he’d been sick after Dublin – so sorry to hear. The crew was packing and Marko H. thanked me for the chocolates. Soon after we all left and went for one more drink at a nearby bar. It was a lovely ending to the night. To be continued next year….

Setlist

Dreaming wide awake
Locking up the Sun
False Kings
Temple of Thought
Rogue
The Sweet Escape
My Dark Disquiet
In a perfect World
War
Daze
Choice Millionaire
Late Goodbye

Diamonds for Tears
Lift
Carnival of Rust