Poets of the Fall – Columbia Theater, Berlin; September 9th, 2022
“By tomorrow dubbed a mystery and the past just blurry lines” – sometimes my memories of a previous night’s gig feel very much like this and the show in Berlin was one of those. I know we had fun, but I cannot recall many details. It was definitely a good show.
I met up with A. for breakfast before heading to Berlin. It was only a two hour train journey. We checked in to our hotels, went for lunch and then made our way to the venue. A few people were already waiting and I was happy to see P. again whom I’d last seen in Helsinki three years ago. Thus, we spent the time chatting until they let us in. we hadn’t really expected to make it to front row, but got a perfect spot on the right side of the stage in front of Jani.
It made me happy that Tom Lumley and the Brave Liason were back to support Poets. I noticed that they had changed the setlist a little since the UK shows and Tom, the singer had changes hair color. 😉 It was lots of fun watching them running all over the stage and I enjoyed their set immensely. They told us it was their first time playing outside the UK and we treated them nicely, clapped along and cheered for them. It’s going to be nice to see them again tomorrow.
Setlist
Modern Age
Anchor
Shrink
No Trust
Comedown
Say Nothing
Fake Friends
Crawling
It was quite crowded and after this first set I felt already too warm. Luckily someone opened a door somewhere so we got some air and I felt better. Now I was ready for the show and together with A. I counted down the minutes until the start.
We heard the intro to requiem and cheered when the guys walked on stage. It definitely was not as loud as the previous night, but just as excited. The show kicked off in high gear and we were so close that it was hard to see everything that was going on or everyone. We got a nice close-up view though. In addition, the lights were bright at the back and they had a fog machine, so it was difficult to see Captain or Tuomas anyway.
Somehow it took me a moment to find my cheering voice and I felt that I could just not scream as loud as in Hamburg the previous night. In fact, the entire audience sounded nowhere near as loud here. Maybe the acoustics were just different? Either way, the show was on the road and once more I was singing along to the best of my knowledge. 😉 Jumping was a bit more difficult this time, because we had so little space, but we managed anyway. 😉
Everything went by so fast, I barely recall the first 5 songs, even though I am sure I sang, jumped and did all the motions while watching the guys do their thing, making sure we got involved. After ‘Rogue’, when Marko walked back on stage, he asked us if there were any Firedancers in the house and did a little dance for us, first shaking his breast, then holding his nose and doing a diving motion that my friend D. had done countless times during other shows and he had covered. It really made me laugh.
During ‘My Dark Disquiet’ I thought about the Ultraviolet album and how much fun the song is live while I didn’t care for it at all when I first heard it. Same can be said for ‘Choice Millionaire’ which I would now consider a highlight of the show. When we did the hands up and down motion together with the guis, I accidentally hit Ollie’s guitar with my hand and he smiled about it. We were directly in front of the stage that night, with no barrier.
Being so close made for a bit of a weird point of view, looking up at the guys instead of being more on one level. Oh, the number of times I’ve been in front of stages, looking up at crotches because whichever band was on stage decided to step all the way to the front. 🙄 Not complaining though, I much rather have this, than having to stand in the back. 🙂
Some time during the show, Marko looked at the woman next to me and they were comparing bracelets, smiling, since they both had the same one. Later he was standing with Ollie, fanning air for him with his VIP pass, because his guitar sola was so hot. 😉 There were many great solos and fun little moments during the night.
‘Chasing Echoes’ was beautiful and as always I did my best singing along. Of course Marko managed to look at me at the exact moment when I did not know the lyrics. He always catches me, he somehow senses when my memory fails me. 😆 I shrugged, looking at him apologetically.
At the start of the encores, while everyone was switching on the lights on their phones, Jani sat down on a speaker to the left and stayed there for the rest of the song. Jaska sat down on the keyboard raiser atone point, but I cannot remember when that happened. At the end of the show, MArko formed a morpho with his hands and held them up, then took them back down to change the shape to a heart that he showed us. As the last notes of ‘Carnival of Rust’ rang out I smiled, raised my hands and formed a morpho for the picture and happily shook Ollie’s and Captain’s hands when they walked out.
The whole concert went by in a bit of a blur, but I enjoyed it a lot. Everyone was in a good mood, on stage and in front. If asked though, I would definitely rank Hamburg higher. After the gig we hung out and chatted for a while, then said goodbye and walked to the subway station, ready for more adventures the next day.
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 fall tour: Two gigs down, seven to go. Next stop: Prague