Poets of the Fall – Aalto Yökerho, Turku; December 8th, 2017

As it always happens after good concerts, the Poets of the Fall gig at Aalto Yökerho in Turku left me with a happy blur of memories that already seem out of reach and cannot be attached to a certain song. I didn’t take any pictures either, but at last I managed to write down the setlist after it was over. 😉 Anyway, it was great fun and a very relaxed show, the quiet before the Christmas storm so to speak. I loved everything about it!

My travels went smoothly, I flew directly to Turku and arrived at our hotel with lots of time to spare. S. and I were both starving so food was the first order of business. we talked, we relaxed and built p some excitement. The club was literally across the road from our hotel. we got there just after 9 and found a handful of people already waiting, one of them S. whom I had not seen in a while. H. joined us shortly after. It got crowded eventually, but getting in went smoothly too and I could pick a nice spot at the front. Time flew by and it was only 23:45 when they started. I’d expected a midnight show and as quite surprised. 🙂

I had a good feeling about this and when the crowd started cheering I knew it was going to be great! From the start we got a lot of attention with Marko singing to me, S. or H. often during the night. He even seemed to know exactly which lyrics we knew and which we didn’t, turning to S. for the half spoken part during ‘The Game’ that I mess up all the time. 😀 We certainly had fun!

All of the guys looked happy that night though and seemed to be enjoying themselves. At one point or another I saw each one of them singing along, even Anton, who was replacing Jari on drums. He loked like he was having lots of fun playing with the guys again and when I smiled at him, he sent a big smile back my way. the satge had a good size for a night club. It wasn’t huge, but they had enough space to move. Carefully though. From time to time they were pretty much dancing around each other, not to block anyone’s way. They are masters at not bumping into each other and it always makes me smile how much they are aware of the others even when concentrated on their playing. 🙂

Ollie, who had just released his first solo single that day, seemed especially relaxed and happy, jumping extra high and really getting into his solos. During ‘Lift’ he even grabbed the chair that he used to sit on for ‘Carnival of Rusr’ just to have a footrest. Marko couched down by his side, watching closely and Jani kneeled on his other side, bowing to the guitar hero. 😀

The setlist was the same as on the cruise, but the order of songs changed around, with ‘Crystalline’ being played much earlier. It works better this way I think. Another source for being happy was the fact that they finally (!!) got rid of ‘Diamonds 4 Tear’. It is a good song, but after hearing it over 180 times (every gig but the first two I saw, because it was not released yet and one acoustic gig) it needed a rest. Funnily enough I did not even notice its absence until H. mentioned it after the show. 😀 ‘Locking up the Sun’ is also missing. I did not realize that until later as well, but noticed that I was jumping less than usual. Either way, I like the setlist as it is.

It was such a fun show with so many funny and cute moments, like Jani and Ollie pointing the necks of their guitar and bass at each other like guns or Marko suddenly doing Riverdance steps during one song. He was in a playful mood and during ‘The Game’ while Jaska was playing an awesome solo at the front he went over to Anton and pointed at which cymbal to hit. Then he pretended (or threatened? 😉 ) to play Captain’s Keyboard.

During ‘Rogue’ it was a joy seeing them play and sharing the spotlight, always pointing to whoever was playing a solo like saying “don’t look at me right now, look at him!” Each one of them (some more than others ;)) can go completely wild when it’s their turn and totally show off as if to say “look what I can do over here”, but they always graciously give each other room to shine and that is one of the factors that makes them such a good band. They truly play together. <3

I often share looks with my friend during gigs, seeing what they do, smiling at them when something nice happens to any one of us, when someone gets extra attention or when we have just seen something especially funny or cute. this time around I was mostly concentrated on the stage and rarely took my eyes off the guys. Fully in the concert zone I was trying to see and hear everything and I’m still sure I missed a lot. It is just impossible to have your eyes everywhere. after the show S. and I mused about having a Groundhog Day for one concert, reliving it over and over again and the possibility to use one rewind each to just watch one of the guys for the entire show. I am not sure I’d actually be able to do that, but it could be interesting. One go then, would have to be reserved to just watch the audience. I’d love to see a concert from the band’s perspective just once. 🙂 As it is, we only have one shot each time, so we do the best we can to notice as much as possible and just compare notes afterwards. 😀

We had a great gig with so much singing along that I felt my voice going when it was over. Lots of screaming and singing along through all the usual parts (yes, we got to sig “dishonesty” again as well). Not as much jumping and dancing as some other times, but of course going wild during ‘Lift’ as always. We all loved it and of course it was over much too soon. In the end, most of the guys came to shake hands. Ollie started it, then Anton walked straight towards me, shook my hand and greeted me “Moi” <3 and Captain and Jaska were shaking some hands as well. This was a nice ending to a very nice gig. How much longer until the next one?

Over after show drinks S., H. and I agreed it had been a great show, exchanged some special moments and just could not stop grinning. I really would have loved to hug the guys and tell them how much I’d loved it, but they were nowhere to be seen. Well, I am sure they could read on our faces how happy we were. See you soon!

Setlist

Shadow Play Intro
Dreaming wide awake
Center Stage
Crystalline
Stay
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Illusion & Dream
The Game
The Child in me
Carnival of Rust

Shadow Play
Daze
Lift
Children of the Sun