Poets of the Fall – Metropl, Berlin; September 5th, 2023

The fist leg of the Poets of the Fall 20th anniversary tour ended in Berlin at the beautiful Metropol Theater. It was the biggest venue on the tour an it was full. The show was just pure joy and the guys were having a great time.

After an almost sleepless night, due to talking until 4 am in Warsaw, we spent six hours on a train to Berlin. Everything went smoothly and luckily our hotel was conveniently located next to the venue. We said hello to the people already in line, went for food, relaxed for a moment and then joined the queue. Almost everyone else had priority passes so we were in a good position.

They separated us into two queues eventually and kept us informed as to what would happened. The venue had a gallery upstairs gallery that we were planning to go to, but we first secured us spots at the front just in case. It turned out to be a good idea, because the barrier upstairs was so hight, that I could barely look over it standing up. There were high chairs, but who wnats to sit during a Poets gig. So I returned from my scouting trip and we ended up thirds row in front of Olli.

It was supposed to start at 8, but apparently nobody had told the band and crew, because they were in no hurry whatsoever. It was a typical theater stage and everything was set up behind the big speakers on the side, which left the entire front of the stage empty. So far there was only red light and so much artificial fog we could barely see the drum. Not great.

Finally, at 8:20 the meditation part of the show started and people cheered, then actually showed disapproval when they heard “the show will start in ten minutes”. I smiled when it got to the part of “How did you get here?”, because this time it was true that we had walked up the stairs. Once again it was impossible to hear much of the recording, because people kept talking. Maybe skip this part for the second and third leg?

The band walked on stage and were just too far away. The sound was also pretty terrible at the beginning. Luckily it got better and soon Marko decided to step up to the front of the stage, “defying the gods of feedbacK” as he put it. after he had done it successfully, everyone else followed suit and they were as close as they usually are. 🙂

Olli saw us right away and was smiling at us a lot during ‘Locking up the sun’. There is rarely a gig where he doesn’t spot me and I#m happy he always looks to find where I am. <3 During ‘Temple of Thought’ Marko referred to Olli as “Olli Guitar” again – it#s a thing now. 😀 ‘Rogue’ had Jani playing on his knees in front of us before he got back up and joined the others. They were goofing around a lot, always teasing each other. It was just fun to watch.

I jumped a lot and hence was sweating loads, but it wasn’t as bad as at the other shows. There was definitely more air here. By now I am used to the setlist and know which song is where during the first part. It somehow feels shorter now, even though the songs have not changed. It’s a nice build up towards the wild track that is ‘My Dark Disquiet’. During that song we realized that Marko had seen us too, because he made it a point to sing the “False kings and bastards” line to us. <3

The break went by quickly, because I spent it chatting. This must have been the gig with the most people I know so much of the front were familiar faces. In front of us was S., whom we had met in Prague last year and next to e was P., who had been at Nosturi back in 2019 and in Berlin last year.

We were all curious which song the second set would bring, especially because we had been unable to hear the soundcheck. First though, Marko was thanking us for coming and said that they like to play a different song every night in this spot. It was ‘Desire’ this time and felt very fresh. I enjoyed it. Afterwards he joked about a Poets show being like a box of chocolates, “you never know what you’re gonna hear”. It would be cool if they really played a different song each night of the tour, but it will also make me sad because I have only one more show to go. Scheduling is a bitch!

Some artificial for remained throughout the show, which made it hard to see Jari, but compared to some other shows I had a good view and enjoyed watching him. The lights were quite nice too, if too bright at times, and thus I took a lot of pictures, looking here and there, trying to get everyone in. The guys moved around a lot and at one point I remember Marko being down in the “trench” in front of the stage. Jani and Olli were playing off to the side too so he people over there got a nice view of them.

When Olli picked up the acoustic guitar for ‘war’, Marko declared it a cello this time. What? The look on Olli’s face was priceless. They kept ‘Choice Millionaire’ in the set and stood at the front of the stage with Glen, doing the whole arms up and down thing while many of us moved along. There was lots of bouncing going on too – on stage and off. During ‘Daze’ I think it was, that Marko and Jani were stickig out tongues at each other, but so close they were almost touching. 😀 With ‘Late Goodbye’, many people were waving their phone lights again, turning the room into a starry night.

It must have been hot on stage, because for the encore Jani came back shirtless and even Olli had taken off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt – that was a first. 😀 They were having so much fun and at one point during ‘Lift’ did what I would refer to as the “Johnny B Goode” – walk. Remember The first Back to the Future movie? Picture what Marty McFly did there. 😉 Later, during the guitar solo, Jaska was giving Olli a shoulder massage.

The show ended with the beautiful ‘Carnival of Rust’. I had loved every minute of it and was really sad the tour is almost over for me now. I left with a smile though, because their music is still everything and it has been great so far. Thank you, Poets of the Fall and I will see you one last time in London!

This time, we didn’t go out, because we were dead tired. I finally bought the tour T-shirt, P. and me got some food and then A. and I went back to our hotel to finally get some sleep. This was awesome. see you next year!

Setlist

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

Desire
Sleep
Diamonds for Tears
War
Choice Millionaire
Daze
Late Goodbye

Encore:
Lift
Carnival of Rust