Poets of the Fall – Electric Ballroom, London; November 7th, 2023

When Poets of the Fall announced their tour dates I was really sad about only being able to see one show in November and I still would love to see more, but I am truly happy I got to see the one in London. Great venue, lovely people and a perfect setlist. I had so much fun.

Taking he train to London meant an early start for me – can’t claim I wasn’t deadly tired. Arrived on time and met up with L. We spent the afternoon walking and talking before we got in line. It had been over a year since we’d seen each other last.

Shortly before the doors opened we heard the show was going to be delayed, but then they let us in surprisingly quickly. So far, so good. We scored a nice spot upstairs and soon I. joined us too. The couple to our left, R. and T. had come from New York to see  the show. How cool is that? It was their first Poets concert and they were excited.

The stage was covered with a makeshift curtain when we arrived, but that was soon taken down by the crew and everything seemed in order. They were going about their business of checking stuff. Around the announced start time, the pre show intro started so we were merely ten minutes late – that’s nothing to complain about.

We had a great view from upstairs and when they finally walked out on stage, everyone cheered. It felt great to be there and I loved hearing them. It still took me a moment to get into it, because I was really tired. With ‘Locking up the Sun’ I warmed up and was jumping for the first time that night. That was so much fun! While I turned back time I imagined Marko was looking in our direction, but I  doubt it was possible to see us from stage. The guys looked happy to be there and being able to watch all of them at the same time was great.

‘Illusion & Dream’ brought a huge smile to my face – I had somehow  forgotten that was on the setlist and was all the more happy to hear it. I took a few pictures, but realized it wasn’t the night for doing that, so I enjoyed most of the gig without my camera. It felt really good to just watch and relax. ‘Temple of Thought’ was wonderful and the guys were having a bunch of fun with ‘Rogue’.

I saw so many little gestures that made me smile, but can’t tie them to a specific song. The band smiled at each other and at us frequently, they urged us to clap and made us sing. Time flew by, while we jumped, danced and sang along to ‘Requiem for my Harlequin’, ‘ Dreaming Wide awake’ and ‘My Dark Disquiet’. I could not believe it was time for intermission already. How? It all happened so fast!

We spent the break talking and before we knew it 20 minutes had passed and the band was back. Marko thanked us all for coming, spoke about the 20th anniversary tour and mentioned that for a while they were not sure the show was going to happen so they were very happy to be standing on that stage. I gathered they had arrived late and wondered what else had happened, but he did not go into details. The main thing was that they were there now. 🙂 He spoke about playing songs the band had not played in a long while and when they started, it did not recognize it right away, even though it felt very familiar. Marko started singing and it hit me – ‘The Labytith’. It made me so happy and immediately turned the show into a special one. I had missed hearing songs from the Clearview album and this is one of my favorites. They played ih beautifully too. What a treat!

‘Sleep’ followed and made I. very happy -“I love that song!” she exclaimed. This setlist really has something for everyone. 🙂 ‘Diamonds 4 Tears’ was fun and ‘War’ is always amazing. I loved everything about it. For ‘Choice Millionaire’ everyone gathered at the front and upstairs we did the whole arms up and down movement along with the band and the first few rows. That song is always such a party!

‘Daze’ was powerful and then we got into more quiet territory with ‘Late Goodbye’. I did not quite catch which instrument Marko declared Olli’s guitar to be this time. He did joke about him still being 18 for sure. 😉 The audience sounded great on the sing-along. I held up my phone light, hoping it would catch on, but it was only me. They saw it too, but it was surely too dark for them to know it was me.

They left and we cheered them back. It must have been hot on stage, because Jani came back without a shirt and Olli had unbuttoned his – he was not even wearing a tie any more. 😀 Did we need a ‘Lift’? Hell yeah! I had not jumped enough yet, wasn’t ready for the show to bf over. There was so much energy and Tuomas got a nice solo too. I didn’t want it to end. Luckily, we had one final song. They can never leave without ‘Carnival of Rust’. It was a wonderful end to the show and there was a lot of hugging among the guys in the end. Marko waved in our direction before the final picture and soon they were gone. It was great and over too quickly.

Said goodbye to L., hung out with I. at the merch, chatted with V. and C. and didn’t notice Jani until he tapped me on the shoulder. I hugged him, told him it had been great and got a selfie that he insisted on. 😀 That was lovely, I will see you all in Tampere.

Setlist

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

The Labyrinth
Sleep
Diamonds for Tears
War
Choice Millionaire
Daze
Late Goodbye

Encore:
Lift
Carnival of Rust