Poets of the Fall – Rock City, Nottingham; May 7th, 2022
Seeing Poets of the Fall play live again has been everything I had hoped for and Nottingham was the highlight of the tour so far. Absolutely everything fit and you could not wipe that happy smile off of my face if you tried. It feels so good to be back!
I woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Manchester, had some great breakfast, sat in a park for a while and left for Nottingham in the early afternoon. The apartment I had rented for the night was beautiful and, more importantly, a short walk away from the venue. Had some food, relaxed a bit and arrived at Rock City around 4:30 to see the usual suspects already in line. We chatted and waited. Entry went smoothly, starting 6:30 on the dot and I scored the perfect spot at the front, just to the right of Marko’s mic. the venue has a high ceiling and was well air conditioned so for the first time I dared to take of my mask for the show. It made a difference.
The venue filled up quickly and my excitement grew, closer to showtime. First up was Tom Lumley & the Brave Liaison, the same band as in Manchester. I had enjoyed their set then, but this night it was even better. They made great use of the stage, jumped around, stepped over to the barrier to play closer to us and all the while looked so happy. They told us it was a dream of theirs to play this venue. They had so much fun and we did too. I took some cool pictures as well. In one of them the lights looked as if a ghost was rising fro the drums – how fitting. 😀 Can’t tell you which of their songs I like best, but certainly enjoyed their set. Happy to get another one tomorrow.
Setlist
Modern Age
Anchor
Shrink
Haunted
Say nothing
Casual
Fake Friends
Crawling
When we had walked in, the microphone was further to my left, but I remembered from Manchester that the crew moved it to the right, once the stage was changed and I was suddenly so much closer. 😀 Resetting of the stage went quickly and very soon we wer ready for Poets of the Fall. My anticipation grew. By now, I know what o expect and was back in full tour mode, loving everything about it.
The lights went down and the long, beautiful intro to ‘Requiem for my Harlequin’ started. One by one, the band stepped on stage and I screamed, along with everyone else. Even after being on tour again for a while now, it’s still somehow unfamiliar to me, like a muscle I didn’t train enough for the past two years. And yet, looking at them playing to the crowd, pointing, urging us to scream louder, it felt like no time had passed at all.
‘Requiem for my Harlequin’ was stunning and every time Marko or Ollie looked my way, I was keenly aware of not knowing the lyrics. 😉 So instead of singing I cheered and smiled and watched in awe. Seeing them up close always has a special kind of magic and even at gig number three it still felt a little bit unreal. Familiar and strange at the same time. At the end of the song Jani was kneeling on the floor playing and Marko knelt in front of him singing.
“Come closer, let’S dream together,” Marko invited us and for ‘Dreaming wide awake’ all my attention was on Ollie, who stood on the raiser with Captain only to jump off of it during the “flying deadly high” line. 😀 Of course I pointed at each one of them in turn, singing “I dream you wide awake”. Marko asked us if we were feeling alright and loud cheers were the reply. Everyone was singing along with all their hearts and during the second verse he sang to me. My heart melted. The last “I take away all your fears” was dedicated to Captain, with Ollie and Marko both stretching out their hands towards him. 🙂
‘Rogue’ was so much fun with lots of great solos, posing and pointing to each other. Jani was down on his knees again, posing for Glen, who was still on picture duty. Marko was back for ‘Firedancer’ and chose to step down to the barrier and walk along there. As he passed me, I really wanted to hug him, but didn’t. Maybe he sensed it, because on the way back he put his hand on my shoulder and smiled at me, so I touched his arm in response. It was a short, sweet moment.
Marko joked that Nottingham had thought up a poetry festival just for them (it had started the previous day) and he thanked us, then seamlessly launched into ‘My Dark Disquiet’ with everyone clapping along, urged on by Ollie and Jani. Everyone played their hearts out all evening and I think it was during this song that Marko stepped up on the drum raiser and jumped off, flying high. Ollie and I sang along to the “false kings and bastards” line together. 😀 Through all this, Jari’s steady beat carried us and Captain sent perfect keyboard melodies in the air.
For ‘Sounds of yesterday’ Marko sat down in front of us and later stood arm in arm with Jani, while Ollie and Jaska were guitar dueling. The song was beautiful, I really like it. ❤️ ‘Choice Millionaire’ had everyone jumping and dancing again, before we got to take another breath with ‘Chasing Echoes’. That song is truly beautiful as well. I watched in awe as Ollie played a solo and Marko and Jani knelt at either side of him watching. It was lovely.
Once again I wondered where time had gone, as we had already reached ‘Stay forever’ and thus the end of the main set. It had been such a beautiful night so far with so much great energy coming from the audience and so many loving gestures exchanged among the band. When they left the stage, Marko formed a heart with his hands and showed it to us.
Soon they came back for ‘The Sweet Escape’, Ollie stood with Captain and Jaska got his great moment in the spotlight. ‘Daze’ and ‘Lift’ rocked the house again and everyone had so much fun. The grand finale was ‘Carnival of Rust’ where Marko stepped on the barriers once again and Jani joined him. It was all so beautiful that I cried. In the end the guys hugged each other and took one last picture with us before they left. It had been one hell of a show – oh my heart!
Once again I found myself in the merch queue, finally bought ‘Ghostligh’, got Tom Lumley’s album as well and had a nice chat with the band. Jani walked out and gave me a half hug in passing ❤️ Truly happy and filled with great memories I said goodbye to new and old friends and walked home. This, all of this! Always.
Setlist
Requiem for my Harlequin
Dreaming wide awake
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Firedancer
My Dark Disquiet
Sounds of yesterday
Choice Millionaire
Chasing Echoes
Stay forever
The Sweet Escape
Daze
Lift
Carnival of Rust
Ghostlight spring tour – three gigs down, two to go. Next stop: London