Poets of the fall – Batschkapp, Frankfurt; October 24th, 2018
After roughly a week break I was on the road again to see Poets of the Fall. In my own country this time. Frankfurt was the first stop on their Germany tour and seeing them perform at the famous Batschkapp was a tone of fun. It was a night of reuniting with friends, good sound, good lights and amazing music. I cannot imagine a better way to spend the evening than attending a concert of my favorite band, surrounded by some of my favorite people. 😀
Tried to get in 6 hours of work before I left Dortmund so it was an early start for me. Left work at noon, grabbed my stuff and hopped on a bus. Of course it was delayed so it was after 5 pm when I reached Frankfurt. Just had enough time to drop my luggage at the hotel, change and walk to the venue. I got there about 20 minutes before the doors opened and was surprised to see so few people. The numbers multiplied quickly within the next ten minutes.
I had spotted H. right away and stood with him until they let us in. J. and C. were outside for a smoke so we said Hi before they went back in. A photo pass was waiting for me and I found a spot in third row behind E., D. and A. – much better than I had expected. Said hello to my friends and waited. S. joined us and we chatted away until it was time for me to go into the photographer’s pit for the first three songs. I’ve never done this at a Poets gig before, but really liked the idea this time. : ) S. and H. promised to save my spot.
There was no support act this time so it was a long wait until 8:30. A few minutes before showstart they let us into the pit, there were for of us. This was the moment when half the front row spotted me and started waving 😀 . Naturally I waved back. It was fun photographing the guys from up close and being able to move around, but that does not mean I managed to capture more than I usually do. I still had my share of not being in the right spot not simply not looking in the right direction at the right moment. 😀 Also, singing along distracted me a bit, but I can’t not do that. 😉
They kept the setlist order from the Finnish gigs and after ‘False Kings’ it was time to move away from the front. When Marko sang “Chills” I was out and by the time the first chorus rolled around I was in my previous spot with S. and H. –thank you! Most people in front of me were shorter so I had the perfect view to take more pictures. I enjoyed being back in the crowd and back to being a fan instead of a photographer doing a job. I took a lot of pictures, but I did also sing along jump, dance and put the camera down once in a while.
I loved watching my friends who saw this tour for the first time, experienced these songs live like I did at the first show in Bistol. It was too bad I could not see all of them, but I saw enough to know they loved it as much as I did. The audience was great overall and so many people knew the right moves too. During ‘Lift’ Marko did not even have to instruct us to scream the first time around. We just did! The band looked like they were having a blast, smiling, connecting, being in a zone and playing their hearts out.
So many moments made me smile. During ‘False Kings’ Marko kneeled down beside Ollie, grabbed his leg and pretended to lick it. Sometime much later Jani was standing with Ollie, shaking his butt in our direction and during ‘Locking up the Sun’ Ollie chased him across stage pretending like he wanted to fence with his guitar neck. 😀 Not to mention all the times they played with each other, leaned on to each other or just watched each other play. It was beautiful. <3
I sang along with all I had, moved with the music, used the light on my phone when asked to do so and even jumped whenever I had enough space. Everything sounded great, every song had meaning and it made me happy to be there, be lost in the music. : ) At the start of the show we had seen the familiar lamp Marko had used during ‘Sleep’ at the Finnish gigs and I wondered if they were going to play the song after all. Just before tour start they had made a poll on Facebook and asked fans to vote between ‘Sleep’ and ‘Cradled in Love’. Against my best hopes people had voted for the latter. I also wondered which song ‘Sleep’ might be replaced with, but I’d find out soon enough.
‘Standstill’ and ‘War’ were brilliant, ‘My Dark Disquiet’ was one dance party and the lamp ended up being used for ‘Cradled in Love’. I liked it, it gave me something to take pictures of. 😉 We got ‘Choice Millionaire’ as a new addition to the setlist. While I tend to skip the song on the album, I love it live. Another dance party happened, but it felt like I was the only one jumping. Maybe people behind me did, but the only ones doing t in front of me were on stage. Who cares, we all had fun.
The encores rolled around and everyone moved with the music until ‘Carnival of Rust’ came along and we stood still. I keep thinking I should leave after it, because I just cannot warm up to ‘Choir of Cicadas’ (sorry Marko). I amused myself with looking at others and trying to figure out how many people like the song and who does not. I snapped some nice pictures too, had Jani blow me a kiss and got to wave goodbye to the guys before they turned their backs on us for a final picture. Glen was taking it this time. Before they left, Jani was lifting up Captain and vice versa. It was funny, but I was too slow to snap a picture.
When it was over I went and hugged everyone I had not hugged before the concert and most of us gathered at the bar for a post concert drink. It was lovely and we all agreed that it had been a fun show. Eventually we got kicked out and said goodbye when some of us took the subway downtown, while B. and I walked to our hotel. To be continued tomorrow…
Poets of the Fall Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Eight gigs down, four to go. Next stop: Berlin
Setlist
Dreaming Wide Awake
Dancing on Broken Glass
False Kings
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Standstill
The Sweet Escape
Brighter Than the Sun
Cradled in Love
My Dark Disquiet
War
Choice Millionaire
Lift
Encore:
Daze
Locking Up the Sun
Carnival of Rust
Choir of Cicadas
Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Eight shows down, four to go