Poets of the Fall – Tavastia, Helsinki; March 18th 2011
What an amazing weekend. Once again I traveled to Helsinki to see Poets of the Fall. It had been almost 4 month since the last concert and I had missed them a lot. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s how it is.
The night before the gig I didn’t get much sleep, because I was so excited. Finally a Poets of the Fall gig again, finally seeing my friends and Helsinki again, finally meeting L. from Italy… I knew it was going to be great and I didn’t even care about the fact that I had to leave spring behind in Germany and return to winter.
Waited for L. outside the Tavastia and met K., my traveling buddy from last year. We decided to have some food next door first and warm up. L. and E. arrive and we stayed in the warmth until more people arrived and we got in line. Jari, Captain and Jaska arrived and said hi as they walked in. More people came, we chatted, killing time. Somewhere between 17:30 and 18:00 Marko arrived. I had my back turned half to him so I didn’t realize he came over until a heard a very familiar voice right next to me say “O hi, you are here. How are you doing?” It took me a brief moment before I was able to answer. Even after all these gigs and all the times we spoke, I am still a bit shy. Ollie arrived as well and they stayed with us for a bit, chatting. Everyone who wanted to got autographs and pictures taken. It was all very nice and relaxed. After they left we could hardly believe our luck.
All was well until – shortly before the doors were to open – I realized that my ticket was gone. It had been in my bag along with the CDs I got signed so it must have fallen out when I took them out. My friends kept me from panicking, taking great care of me, but I still didn’t know what to do. The gig was sold out so I could not just buy a new one. S. saw Jani outside and I asked him for help. He was in a hurry to get something he’d forgotten at home and could not promise anything. When the doors opened I decided to talk my way in. I had just started telling the doorman I’d lost my ticket when suddenly I realized Ollie was standing next to him, waving me through. <3 I was speechless, all I could do was hug him and I did. I figured that Jani must have called him, because that was the only way he could have known. <3
While waiting inside the Tavastia at the door my knees were still shaking and I could not believe all that had just happened. This band is just awesome! <3
They let us in and I got my usual spot between Ollie and Marko. The front row was packed and there were four different Nations there alone and at least eight in the building: Italy, Latvia, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, England, Germany and Finland.
Lights went out and the intro started, ‘Can You Hear Me’ was the first song. From the moment they got on stage there was unbelievable energy in the room. They were all having so much fun, smiling, laughing all the time. ‘Can You Hear Me’ sounded great live, just as I had expected. They continued with ‘The Ultimate Fling’, one of my favorites. Too bad there was just not enough room in front row to jump around. ‘No end, No Beginning’ followed, even more beautiful than I had expected it to be. The look on Marko’s face when he sang “I’m secretly grateful you’re living this moment with me” – pure love. Once again I wanted to cry, but was so happy that I could not, so I just enjoyed. This song is just perfect. Everything about it is right: the guitars, the lyrics, the music rising and falling – it all comes together to make up something larger than life. It is so powerful it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
‘Dreaming wide awake’ took us all into the rock zone again, just to slow down a bit with ‘Stay’. Marko said “I know here are a lot of people from out of the country here, hope you are enjoying your Stay”, before they played it. He usually does not speak English in Finland, but did it a few times that night.
Despite the great songs and wonderful atmosphere it took me a while to get into the mood this time. I guess I was still in shock. At one point during the concert Jani looked at me and smiled and I just whispered “Thank you!”
‘Sleep’ is always a wonderful gem. I guess they’ll play it more often this tour, but usually it is few and far between, so it made me happy. ‘Locking up the sun’ rocked and ’War’ was as powerful as ever. I had been waiting to hear ‘Roses’ live ever since I got my hands on the Carnival of Rust album and was so happy I finally got it.
Marko drew a “tattoo” on his arm with a pen and later gave the pen to people in the audience and let them add to it. At one point he was standing next to Jaska, comparing tattoos. ‘Given and Denied’, ‘Diamonds for Tears’ and ‘Illusion & Dream’ brought us to the encore, ‘Late goodbye’, ‘Carnival of Rust’ and finally ‘Lift’ ended it all. Before ‘Carnival of Rust’ Marko asked N. for the hat she was wearing, put it on his head, struck a pose like the puppet in the glassbox in the video and then came to life. It was magical.
During the last song, Marko came over to us and shook all of our hands before he left, Ollie came back bringing guitar picks for my friends. <3
After the show I said hello to some more friends, then spotted Jani and went over to him. I thanked him and he told me that he had indeed called Ollie. I stood there, didn’t know what to say and just wanted to hug him. I asked him if it was OK and he said yes, so I gave him a good squeeze. <3
Marko, Ollie and even Captain came out on stage again to sign autographs. I briefly spoke with Captain before he disappeared again, then listened to Ollie talk to my Italian friends. It was almost impossible to get to Marko, there were just so many people around him. Still, I wanted to show him my tattoo. Problem is, it’s on my leg and the stage is high, so it was quite an effort to get my foot up there. I should have just climbed up, but didn’t think of it. Anyway, he liked it, told me it rocked and then asked how I liked his – he always makes me laugh. 😉
Jari came out too and he also talked with my Italian friends for a long time. He told them about almost getting stuck at Heathrow airport on his way home from London, because they closed everything down in the winter. “And they had only 10 centimeters of snow. Come on. we had a meter and a half here and everything was still running.” I spoke to him and we got talking about the many concerts I’ve been to. When I said I’d come to Russia and Ukraine he said “You’re mad, you know that. You’re really MAD!” I only answered “It took you this long to figure that out?” and smiled.
L.,E., K. and I went out for tea/coffee after the show before finally stumbling home around 2 in the morning. I was so excited I could not sleep. How much better can it get? It didn’t even matter that I missed my bus stop on the way home and almost ended up in Espoo. What a great night!
Setlist
Can You Hear Me
The Ultimate Fling
No End, No Beginning
Dreaming Wide Awake
Stay
Sleep
Locking Up the Sun
War
Roses
Given and Denied
Diamonds for Tears
Illusion & Dream
Encore:
Late Goodbye
Carnival of Rust
Lift