Poets of the Fall – Lutakko, Jyväskylä; April 6th 2018
The Poets of the Fall concert in Jyväskylä was such a relaxed affair, I wish all concerts were like this. We had enough space to move, nobody cared that I brought my camera and took a gazillion pictures, the audience was into it and the guys delivered a fun show. While I cannot remember all the details I do remember that I laughed a lot and just enjoyed being there with my friends by my side and one of the most amazing bands I know performing for me. With close to 200shows under my belt now, I am still enjoying every single one and I cannot imagine ever growing tired of it. So here’s to many, many more! *raises glass*
It was another early flight, but what else is new? I had not flown Lufthansa in a while and was pleasantly surprised. Everything was on time and the gates were right next to each other when I changed flights in Munich. Trains in Finland ran smoothly as well and at 5 pm I met with S. at our hotel. After dinner we arrived at the venue to be the third and fourth person in line. K. joined us soon, doors opened on time and we scored our usual spots. All well so far. Oh, we heard sound check too while we were waiting so I now new which change in the setlist S. had been hinting at. We chatted, the venue filled up, the stage was bathed in blue light and eventually it was time to start. Finally!
The intro seemed different than last time, but I have no idea if it actually was or I just could not remember. 😉 Either way, loved it and loved seeing K. smile when she realized that ‘Overboard’ was still on the setlist. Marko, who knows how much she loves that song sang to her too, which made the smile even bigger. 🙂 During ‘Daze’ Marko was dancing in front of Jani, drumming with his open hand on his chest, then moved over to Ollie to play air guitar. A bit later he was back dancing in front of Jani again who just stuck out his tongue. At one point during the song Jaska stood on the drum and keyboard raiser, one leg on each. Ollie watched for a while, then bent down and touched the floor next to Jaska’s shoe, grinned at Jaska, who grinned back at him, then straightened again. At least that is what it looked like. I have no idea why or if this is really what he was doing, but they sure seemed to be having a lot of fun with it.
All of the guys paused for me that night when they saw me taking a picture, only Jari was ever elusive. He was either hidden by the cymbals or blocked by Marko. I tried hard to capture him anyway, but it just did not work out until the very end when he got up to come to the front. After not having my camera at all the last time around, I was very focussed on trying to capture all the moments. I might have missed a few things, because I was trying to capture others, because there was too much going on. One thing I remember is Ollie and Jaska forming hearts with their fingers and showing them to each other. It was adorable. <3 There was also a lot of hugging going on amongst the guys that night. 🙂
Up to ‘Rogue’ the setlist was the same as last time. I sang along to every line of ‘Shallow’ and Marko actually looked at me and checked if I did. 😉 Sometimes I wonder – does he read my blog or just my mind? 😛 All the songs were pretty amazing, the guys urged us to clap and sing along with them, which made me smile, because before the gig we had discussed how bad singers POTF fans are. We once again proved that we can’t sing very nicely, but at least we do it loud! 😀 For ‘Rogue’ they were showing off their skills as usual, but also leaving room for te others to shine. <3 I admire them even more for being so gracious with each other.
I expected ‘The Beautiful Ones’ after it and got my camera ready to film, because the lights were not as bright as they had been in Tampere. Alas, it was ‘Given and Denied’ they played. I love that song very much and it has taken on new meaning for me recently so it made me happy that they were still playing it. Right now, the song just fits. 🙂 One more slow song at this point would have been nice, but apparently the guys felt it was time to rock the house and gave us ‘Kamikaze Love’ followed by ‘Choice Millionaire’. Both gave us a chance to jump and dance. I love the former and don’t care much for the latter on their respective albums, but both are great live songs and got the crowd moving. 🙂 I realized the concert was going by much too quickly when Ollie sat down for ‘Late Goodbye’. Already? Who do we have to bribe to to get longer gigs? It is always over way too soon!
‘Children of the Sun’ came along and I sighed, a mixture of being happy about the good concert and sad that it would be over soon. It was here when Marko asked us to turn on the lights on our phones and most people followed suit. At that point during any show I wish I could switch places with them for a moment and take in the view. 🙂 We still had a few songs to go though, saw more dancing from Marko, jumps from Ollie, crazy solos from Jani and Jaska. Ollie visited Captain on the keyboard raiser during ‘Lift’ and they rocked their hearts out. Jaska and jani stood head to head for a while until they both started laughing, Marko was playing air violin and during a particularly good Ollie solo, he did a hand stand. Jani on the other hand kneeled and played to Ollie. All of it was crazy-wonderful-happy
Of course they ended with ‘Carnival of Rust’. It was beautiful, but I did not want them to leave. The concert felt way too short, especially because I was going to miss the next day’s in Kuopio. For a good reason, but only because I cannot be in two places at once. 😉 It was great seeing them and as they waved goodbye I waved back at them, shook Ollie’s hand when he passed by and watched them walk off. We stuck around a bit amd got to say goodbye to Ollie, Jaska and Jani. Thank you, it was fun! Back at our hotel the only question we had left was for Marko and Jaska: Which one of you had those jeans first and did you consciously choose to wear them the same day? 😉
Setlist
Overboard
Daze
False Kings
Diamonds for Tears
Shallow
Rogue
Given and Denied
Kamikaze Love
Choice Millionaire
Late Goodbye
Encore:
Children of the Sun
War
Dreaming Wide Awake
Lift
Carnival of Rust