Poets of the Fall – Pressa, Helsinki; February 22nd, 2013
Roughly 11 weeks since the last concert I was back in Helsinki again to see Poets of the Fall. It almost felt as if the tour had never stopped. This time around I didn’t take the usual morning flight and left Germany around noon. Finally made it to the hotel after 5 p.m. and was glad B. and I were staying directly at the Sokos Hotel Presidentti where the club is. B. was waiting for me when I got there, we had some food, chatted and then sat down in the lobby. It was weird, I had been an a totally different planet musically since the Virgin il gig in December, hadn’t even listened to POTF much since so I wasn’t feeling the usual pre-gig excitement. Or so I thought, but then Captain walked by and greeted me – suddenly everything became real.
H. and S. arrived and we remained seated until a few people got in line. It was all relaxed and there weren’t many people when they let us in at 9 p.m. – easy front row, now we only had to wait for three more hours. 😉 The stage had barriers now, while there were none the last time around, so there were no boxes to sit down on and we had to remain standing. The guys had a new and beautiful stage backdrop all in red that said 10th anniversary tour – I totally want a T-Shirt like that. A few people checked the setlist as soon as it was placed on stage, but I wanted to be surprised.
Slowly the club filled up and when the lights went down shortly after midnight, excited screams could be heard. A brand new intro started, they guys walked on stage and a few lined into the first song I was still wondering which one it was. Sadly the sound in front wasn’t great at the beginning so I could not make out all of Marko’s words at first. Soon enough I was singing though and finally recognized the song – it was ‘Delicious’. 😀 Marko had a new stage outfit too, all black and white. No more tophat and feather boa, but the hat from the CYHM video. Good choice! 😀
‘Locking up the sun’ was next, followed by ‘Kamikaze Love’ – I surely hadn’t expected the show to start in such high gear with rocky songs. It was awesome! It took me just a little while to get into the mood, but the songs helped me and by the time ‘Kamikaze Love’ was over I had fully arrived and was in tune with the music. I had immediately decided not to take pictures, because I wanted to enjoy the first gig of the year without worries. I still hardy managed to take everything in. I kept looking from one of the guys to the other, but there was often too much artificial fog to see them. Luckily, I had a great view of Jari and Captain while Marko, Ollie, Jani and Jaska all stood right in front of me a time or a few. <3 While I held out my had to “turn back time” during ‘Locking up the sun’ Marko took my hand and shook it, smiling at me. A nice way to say hello. I got smiles form all the other guys too during the show. I really had missed them.
‘Jeremiah Peacekeeper’ was next, the sound was better by now so I could fully enjoy the beauty of the song. ‘Given and denied’ was back on the setlist too. That made me totally happy. Everyone around me looked happy too and I had the feeling the guys enjoyed being back after the break. 😀 I watched them in awe, trying to take in every little detail an still missing so much. I remember at one point I had an unobstructed view of Jari and spent some time marveling at his drumming. Juts great! Ollie was a bit far too the left for me to see much of him, but luckily he moved around a lot, moonwalk included later during the show.
Marko took of his hat, ruffling his own hair saying “Don’t mess my hair”- I immediately said “Yeah!” and smiled at him, knowing this could only mean one thing: ‘Don’t mess with me’ was back on the setlist. Right then and there they could not have picked a better song to express my mood for the past few weeks. Sometimes I wonder if they might be reading my mind. 😉 Needless to say I jumped and danced during the song. ‘Temple of thought’ was still there too and I was happy they had not dropped it. Such a beautiful song, always. The next one, however, made my night. I clearly remember that the first song I really fell in love with and listened to over and over again when I got ‘Signs of Life’ was ‘Everything Fades’. Back in 2010 it was one of the songs I told Marko I had never heard and last year it was the song I might have wished for had I ever gotten the chance to do so. And now, finally they had put it on the setlist. <3 I could have gone home right after it was over and would have still been perfectly happy.
It wasn’t over yet though. ‘Cradled in Love’, ‘Stay’, ‘Runing out of time’ – they delivered them well, one by one, mixed with the usual shenanigans: Marko messing with Ollie’s and Jaska’s guitars or putting his hat on Ollie’s head during a guitar solo, Ollie and Jaska playing together, Jani and Marko leaning on to each other. Somewhere during the gig, after one of Jaska’s solo’s I think, Jani asked Jari for a pen, then wrote something on the back of a setlist and showed it to Jaksa and the otheres. It said “8.5 Hyvää Jaska!” everyone was grinning at that.
‘Illusion & Dream’, ‘Diamonds 4 tears’ and ‘Late goodbye’ took us to the encores. I had secretly hoped for D4T to be dropped, but I guess I can’t have all my wishes fulfilled and getting ‘Everything fades’ more than made up for it. They didn’t even leave stage, Marko just asked us in Finnish if we wanted to go to sleep and when the crowd yelled back “Ei!” (No) he grinned. “So you don’t want (to) sleep?” before Captain started playing the very song. I loved watching him play and Jari did too. He leaned on the cymbals, looking at him from up close. The last three songs were the usual one: ‘Dreaming wide awake’, ‘Carnival of Rust’ with a new intro song and ‘Lift’. I love all three songs and they work well, always ending the show on a high note. The only bad part about them? When ‘Dreaming wide awake’ starts I already know it will be over soon. The songs were pure power though and a nice outtro sent us on our way. A great start guys, I cannot wait for the next one!
After the show H., S., B. and I hung out chatting, I met some other friends too and we had a good time. Many people were dancing, but I was content just watching them. Bumped into Petri at the bar and had a nice chat with him as well. The whole evening was just too nice to leave soon so we stayed until they kicked us out. We hugged H. and S. goodbye before they drove home drove home, B. and I just went upstairs to our room, chatting for a long time before finally falling asleep. We both agreed it was well worth the trip. 😀
Poets of the Fall 10th anniversary tour – 1 gig down, so far 7 to go, next stop: MS Viking Grace
Setlist
Delicious
Lockig up the sun
Kamikaze Love
Jeremiah Peacekeeper
Given and denied
Don’t mess with me
Temple of Thought
Everything fades
Cradled in Love
Stay
Running out of time
Illusion & Dream
Diamonds for tears
Late Godbye
Encore
Sleep
Dreaming wide awake
Carnival of Rust
Lift