Poets of the Fall – MS Gabriella, April 1st, 2023

It was a cruise, it was a midnight show and it was brilliant. Poets of the Fall’s first gig of their 20th anniversary tour was everything I had hoped fore: friends, fun night, relaxed band and – most of all – a great setlist. I loved every moment.

In winter A. and I had discussed whether we wanted to go to another cruise gig or if it was better to wait for a possible tour, but when the first summer date was announce we figured this was the one show for the sprig and booked it. Great decision. We had a nice afternoon in Helsinki, boarded the ferry, had dinner, watched the sunset and then went to the club where the show was going to be. It was still a three hour wait then and we grabbed some seats by the dance floor, listening to the cover band play.

Finally, it was 15 minutes past midnight and time for the concert. The dance floor filled up and we got out of our seats, ready to go. The intro started and we looked at each other. “New intro?” “Yep!”. The band walked on stage to great cheers and started with ‘Revelations’. Yes! I had been hoping to hear more of ‘Ghostlight’ and was already smiling broadly. It was a great start, especially with the amazing guitar solo in the end. They were on fire.  🙂

Next we entered familiar territory with ‘Locking up the Sun’ – I had not realized I’d missed the song, but I was happy to have it back. It rocked! I would have loved to jump, but I had a TV screen hanging above my had that I was afraid to hit, so I resigned to just moving in place.

“I wonder wha’s gonna happen in the next 20 years of Poets of the Fall,” Marko greeted us and then announced “an oldies-goldie from 20 years ago”. It was ‘Illusion & Dream’. <3 Already the show was perfect for me and I sang along at the top of my lungs. Marko, who had spotted us during the first song was looking our way, smiling, and everyone sang “dishonesty” when he held out the mic to us. Of course I raised my glass at the appropriate time too. At the end, during the solo, Marko turned the tuning keys on Olli’s guitar and when the song was over asked “Did I screw it up for you?” When Olli nodded, he  said he owed him a G&T. 😀

Were we having a good time? Hell yeah! “So am I,” Marko declared, and sang ‘Temple of Thought’ for us. The guys looked like they were having fun, smiling and showing their skills. ‘Requiem for my Harlequin’ followed and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the guys play and just have fun. Considering, how small the stage was, they still managed to move around a lot, up to all the usual shenanigans. 🙂

At the start of ‘Rogue’ they refused to play until we all cheered loud enough on Jani’s signal, then gave each other room to shine. Soon Marko was back for a killer version of ‘Dreaming wide awake’. I missed Olli jumping though and attributed that to the low ceiling. His playing was amazing as always and so was everyone else’s. They sounded so good. Marko turned the “I dream you…”- part into a call and response. It worked nicely.

The bangers just kept on coming with ‘My Dark disquiet’. It was perfect that we had room to move where we were, because I could not have stood still. <3 The ext song started and I knew it was from ‘Revolution Roulette’. I started singig “In these days of man made wonders…” while my brain kept going “What is this song” – it took me until the chorus to remember the title, ‘Diamonds 4 Tear’ of course. I think it was during this song that Marko moved in close to someone who was filming with his phone until his face filled the whole screen. Funny. Jani, of course, had his share of posing for people, while Jasks mostly was lost in the music. I didn’t see too much of Jari and Captain, the former behind a plastic wall and the latter in the corer on the side of the drums.

At some point, someone had handed Marko a feather boa and he had some fun with it. ‘Daze’ was great and once again, the audience proved they knew the songs and their response parts. we were loud too. 😀 “We started this story 20 years ago,” Marko announced, “and this was our first song.” It had been a long time since they’d last played ‘Late Goodbye’ and it was perfect. The dance floor got even more crowded for the song and everyone knew the words. We got to sing the full chorus on our own. 😀 After the awesome guitar solo they thanked us and left the stage, but I knew it wasn’t over yet.

However, I couldn’t make sense of the intro music to the encores and wondered what song it would be. Soon, the guys were back on stage and still I had not figured out the song. “Always keep hope alive,” Marko said and they keyboard started. “I#d stand the hand of God, but the war is on your lips…” – for the second time that night I was singing along without knowing the title of the song yet. Then, when we finally came to the lines “this day will die tonight…” and I knew it was ‘Maybe tomorrow is a better day’ it made me so happy. I had waited to hear this song for years. <3

We were down to the last songs and with ‘Lift’ I could not help but jump, stepping back so I would not ht the TV screen. Of course A. and I did the “on and on and on” – move. Marko didn’t, but looked at us as if to say “yeah, you do it”. Jani was chasing him around the stage and I could not really see what happened, but it made Marko laugh so hard that he could not sing any more – he missed half a chorus. Surprisingly, the others managed to continue playing. It was really funny! 😀

Marko thanked us all for coming and told us it was the first show of the anniversary tour. Finally, Olli took the acoustic guitar and we got ‘Carnival of Rust’. It always is the perfect last song. I sang my heart out along wit everyone else and when they wave goodbye, I formed a heart with my hands too. It was brilliant, thank you so much!

Setlist

Revelations
Locking up the Sun
Illusion & Dream
Temple of Thought
Requiem for my Harlequin
Rogue
Dreaming wide awake
My dark Disquiet
Diamonds 4 Tears
Daze
Late Goodbye

Maybe tomorrow is a better Day
Lift
Carnival of Rust

On the way to our cabin, to drop of my camera (which I had not used at all), I ran into Olli and got a hug. <3 Thanked him for the show and heard that they had liked it as well. Wonderful. Now I can’t wait for the tour.