Poets of the Fall – Saaristo Open, Kaarina; June 11th 2011
Having left my country in the pouring rain on a Friday evening it made me insanely happy to arrive right in Finnish summer. The night was still warm when I arrived at my friend K.’s place. First she tried hugging me to death, then we spent a lot time chatting before finally going to sleep.
I woke up looking at the Carnival of Rust Tour poster, momentarily confused about my whereabouts. After breakfast, K.’s trusted Punto – our companion for many road trips last summer – took us to Kaarina. As usual we were almost the first ones to arrive. Only J. was already waiting for us. Having come all the way from the US she didn’t want to miss a thing and fully understand that. Hugs all around before we settled in the shade, chatting and waiting. About an hour later A. arrived, V. in tow and carrying a bit of Finnish music history with her. Her banner read “Soittakaa Paranoid Psychosis”. The Black Sabath Song ‘Paranoid’ has cult status in Finland. Hence, it is a running gag to yell out for the song to be played at any concert.
A few more people arrived so we got out of the shade and stood at the gates. It was blazing hot – I just love the dry heat in Finland. They let us in and the front row was ours. We shared it with a few Popeda fans and two girls from Poland who had come to see Europe.
At 3:00 p.m. the festival started. I was surprised at how much of what the announcer said I understood. Remu and the Hurriganes were the first band to play. Having seen ‘Ganes’ I had a vague idea about them, but they still did nothing for me. There were surprisingly few people present, but those behind us apparently loved them. One woman kept shouting “Kuka on paras? Remu on paras!” I disagreed, but she probably would not understand my obsession with the Poets either. 🙂
Next up was Kaija Koo with Jaska on guitar. The woman is great. Loved her performance, her voice and her outfit. She knows how to move too. There was a lot of chemistry on stage between her and the band and some good interaction with the audience. In the end, she even asked which of two songs we wanted her to play. Nice! She also had some fun with a guy who had stripped off his T-shirt and thrown it on stage. She held it out to him teasingly and he had to reach out to get it. The smile on his face as just priceless. It was fun watching her and time went by fast. In addition to playing guitar, Jaska sang backingvocals – this made me realize how much I have missed that at POTF’s gigs lately.
In-between bands there were three female GoGo dancers on stage. All the guys were staring (or pretending not to) while setting up the equipment on stage. The women in front checked out their tattoos and boots, wondering when the half-naked male GoGo dancers would arrive.
Finally the stage was set, the banner was up and the intro started. To my surprise ‘Dreaming wide awake’ was the first song. I had noticed the different intro, but was still expecting ‘Can you hear me’ somehow. Every time I see Poets of the Fall walk on stage I’m happy to see them and feel grateful for being able to be there and see this amazing band perform. It was great to have friends around me and I took a look at J., because it was her first ever Poets gig. The expression on her face told everything and showed the same wonder that must have been visible on my face back in September 2008. In fact, I think it’s still the same today: happiness mixed with awe.
The guys were looking cool even in the heat. Captain wore a Stetson and stylish sunglasses, Jani had camouflage shorts, Jaska the standard rocker outfit of jeans and a T-Shirt. Marko was completely in black. The stage was too high to see Jari. Once again I admired Ollie for sticking with his stage outfit of black long-sleeve shirt and tie, even in summer – don’t you melt in that?
‘The ultimate fling’ was next – time to rock out. Marko was in a playful mood, posing for the cameras, holding two fingers to his temple and “shooting” himself during the “it’s pretty obvious who needs to shut up” line. He also crawled over the stage, lay down, rolled over – it was fun to watch. After not taking pictures at the past three gigs I was somewhat glued to my cameara this time. There are time when I just want to stand there and enjoy what I’m seeing and times when I feel the need to document everything. The latter was he case for sure, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it just as much.
‘Can you hear me’ kept the show going. It is such an amazing live song, its power gets me every time. With ‘Late Goodbye’ and ‘Stay’ things slowed down a bit. During the latter, Jaska sat down on stage, but rolled over on his back first, staying there for a while with his feet up in the air until Marko came over to check on him. ‘War’ brought one of many chances for Ollie to shine. I love watching him getting lost in his solos. ‘Locking up the sun’ is always a favorite of mine and ‘Given and Denied’ takes me right back to the Twilight Theater tour. ‘Diamonds for Tears’ closed the main set.
For the encores, Marko received a rose from a woman in the audience and proceeded to take it apart during ‘Carnival of Rust’. It all ended on a high note with ‘Lift’. We certainly got a kick out of Marko taking off his shirt. This sure was better than any GoGo dancers could have been. 😉 As usual, the gig was over in the blink of an eye and as usual it left me elated.
We walked away from front row, needing a drink, a rest and some time to recap. We sat down on the grass, chatting. After a wile J. spotted Jaska and walked over to him. He spent some time chatting with her and posed for pictures with a few of us. Ollie and Captain showed up too and stayed for a bit. It was all very nice and relaxed and I was so happy for J. and a. that they got to meet the guys. Once they were gone, A. and V. left and the rest of us sat in the sun some more.
We didn’t go back to see Popeda, even though, judging by the audience reaction. we should have. It’s funny, this has been at least the third festival I’ve been to where they played right after the Poets and I have never bothered to seen them. I like some of their stuff for sure, but there are only very few bands who can hold a candle to the guys and they are not one of them for sure. Most music just does not work after seeing such brilliant performers.
We went back to take a look at Bonnie Tyler and I had a chance to relive my youth for a while. Had enough after three songs, but at least I can claim to have seen her. Would have enjoyed staying for Europe, knowing they are a fun live band, but K. wanted to leave and as I said, after Poets of the Fall, nothing else matters.
We got back to Salo at night, after dropping J.off at her hotel in Turku, had pizza and spent some fun time looking at our pictures from the gig, before calling it a night.
Setlist
Dreaming wide awake
The ultimate Fling
Can you hear me
Late Goodbye
Stay
War
Locking up the Sun
Given and Denied
Diamonds for Tears
Encore:
Carnival of Rust
Lift