Poets of the Fall – Meetfactory, Prague; September 1st, 2023

The show in Prague was the first one of Poets of the Fall’s 20th Anniversary tour outside of Finnland and after they had announced and intermission to be able to “play an overall longer show” we all wondered what that meant. It was a different venue too plus the first gig with the new Priority passes. I went in with no expectations and therefore had a really fun night. I enjoyed the show, I sang and jumped and sweat my butt off and once it was over I was smiling – they still can make me happy. 🙂

Traveling to Prague was exhausting because i had to take a night train to get there. When I finally arrived, all I really wanted was a nap. However, food was needed as well and after checking in to or hotel with A. and meeting up with E. we went to a nice Brazilian restaurant. Good food = good spirits. Got my nap after all and we headed for the venue around 5 pm.

When we arrived, there were surprisingly few people in line – most of the priority pass holders were not there yet. We had benches to sit on and there even were drinks we could buy. It was nice and relaxed. About 1 hour before the doors opened, we separated into two lines, but moste people didn’t arrive until about the last half hour. I had expected chaos when they opened the doors, but it actually went smoothly. When the regular ticket holders got in I checked my watch: It was 19:37. They did wait a moment after the last person with a priority pass was inside, before they opened for the rest of us.

The venue wasn’t great. Low stage and pillars on the sides blocking our view, with big speakers on them that didn’t help either. We considered going to the gallery, but the view was partly blocked from there as well, so we settled for 2nd/3rd row on the right. We were ready.

It was 20 minutes past 8 when the spoken word tape started. It was better understandable than it had been in Helsinki and I liked the idea, but the execution still wasn’t great. It’s nice to ask questions about how we got there and which songs we were thinking of to put us in the mood, but most people were not listening and it felt way too long overall. 5 minutes would have been enough. E. kept commenting that some of the questions were weird. They felt a bit like meditation to me, not sure if that’s really fitting. Either way, some people kept clapping and shouting “Poets! Poets!” and I#m sure that was not the desired effect.

We cheered when the tape said “The show will start i one minute” and even more so, when the guys finally stepped on stage. Especially Jaska looked really happy – he was grinning ear to ear. Jari was back too after Tuomas had played for the summer gigs. ‘Revelations’ was first and the sound was terrible. Granted, we were too close to the speakers, but it really felt muddy overall. 🙁 The lights weren’t great either, yet somehow I still had fun.

With ‘Locking up the sun’ I was moving along and of course turning back time – it was great to have some room to move. Olli, Marko and Jani had already spotted us and by the time ‘Illusion & Dream’ came around the sound had gotten better too. I was really enjoying this. ‘Temple of Thought’ was beautiful as always and they were back to playing ‘Rogue’ right after. I loved watching the guys show off their skills.

Marko returned and they powered through ‘Requiem for my Harlequin’, ‘Dreaming wide awake’ and ‘My Dark Disquiet’. By now it was almost unbearably hot and not only my T-shirt, but also my pants were soaked with sweat. In-between jumping and dancing I grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled it to get some air. Marko noticed and repeated the gesture. I can only imagine how warm it might be with the added heat of stage lights. It didn’t spoil the fun. When they ended the first set after ‘My Dark Disquiet’, I was glad to get a break though.

The side door was open so at least we got some air. The people to my left went away and never returned so we got a little more space as well. During the Intermission there was a Marko tape too, but I didn’t hear any of that. so far, no surprises and with only 45 minutes in the first set, it didn’t feel like this was going to be a “longer show”. Getting a breather wasn’t bad, but it felt too long and I was happy to hear the words “the show will continue in one minute” – yes!

Only Marko, Olli and Jani returned to the stage and Marko started chatting about a song they had not played in a long time. I was fully expecting ‘Late Goodbye’ and exchanged looks with E., both thinking “last week is a long time?” Then Olli started playing and I knew it was a different song. “I worry that I can’t give you what you need,” Marko sang. It made me instantly happy and I sang along right away, but it took me more than one verse before I could remember the name of the song – ‘King of Fools’. And old favorite of mine that I really had not heard in a log time. <3 So this was a different setlist after all.

Marko talked for a bit, asking the crowd about the Czech word for thank you after someone had yelled “kiitos!” – he practiced a few times, failing at first and joking that he was making a fool of himself as usual. It was funny. The rest of the band joined them and we got ‘Sleep’. People loved it. It was a nice gesture to bring that one back. I’ve never understood the obsession with it though. There are songs I love a lot more.

After that it was back to the regular setlist with ‘Diamonds for Tears’ and ‘Daze’. More jumping on our part and more sweating. At one point Marko said “I know how you feel – hot!” Indeed. I loved watching Olli visiting Captain, Jani leaning on to Jaska and them all posing for Glen, who as on picture taking duty. Only Jari I could barely see at all. The second set ended with ‘Late Goodbye’ and a pretty good sing-along. 😀

The encores started with ‘War’ and after it ended I kept hoping they’d play ‘Maybe tomorrow is a better day’ anyway, but they didn’t. 🙁 Now I was really glad I had gone on that cruise back in April and at least heard it once. We had already reached the usual finale with an awesome version of ‘Lift’ and a last chance to jump and sing along, following Marko’s lead. I love this part of the show, always. The last song was of course ‘Carnival of Rust’, because they never can let us go without it. After all these years it still makes me happy. 🙂

They thanked us, posed for a picture with the crowd, there was some hugging going on, Jani kissed Marko on the cheek and  just before they left Marko told us to “take care of yourselves so you can better care for others”. Then it was over. I checked my watch and it was 22:23 so the second set had lasted 48 minutes. well, guys, 93 minutes is not really a “longer show” – we have had shows of around 90 minutes on several tours, just without intermission. So the great announcement did amount to nothing much, but hey, 2 more songs is good.

We all agreed that it had been a fun show and we also agreed that ‘King of Fools’ was a great addition. Maybe that’s a spot in the show to play different acoustic songs? That would be even better. We will see. Soon. Onwards to Budapest!

Setlist

Revelations
Locking Up the Sun
Illusion & Dream
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Requiem for My Harlequin
Dreaming Wide Awake
My Dark Disquiet

King of Fools
Sleep
Diamonds for Tears
Daze
Late Goodbye

Encore:
War
Lift
Carnival of Rust