Poets of the Fall – Kantine, Cologne; Octoober 28th, 2018
The Poets of the Fall Germany tour ended in Cologne, the closest show to home and the last one for me this year. The tour will continue to India, but I cannot make it there this time so I had my mind set on enjoying the hell out of this final show and making it to front row as well. I succeeded on both counts, had an amazing time and nearly no voice left when it ended. The guys gave us everything they had and the audience was all in as well so it turned out to be one hell of a party. There could not have been any better way to end this fall in Ultraviolet. We will all meet again ion 2019!
The day started at I.’s place with a good breakfast after a good night’s sleep. Due to my own stupidity with taking the wrong subways (maybe I wasn’t as awake as I thought?) I almost missed my train, but just reached it in the end. Made a pit stop in Dortmund on the way and left my luggage in a locker so I would not have to deal with picking it up somewhere after the show. Arrived at the venue around 4 pm and was surprised to find so many people already in line. Good thing the venue is not as narrow as the one they played in Cologne last tour. It was windy and soon freezing cold. By the time they let us in the cold was just starting to crawl upwards through the soles of my shoes.It took a while to get warm afterwards. Like in Berlin, my photo pass wasn’t ready yet and this time they made a fuss about it, but like in Manchester I found a nice security guard who took care of it. <3
The meet & greet was nice. I thanked them for the tour, Marko wanted to know where I’d been the previous night and Captain asked if I was coming to India. I talked to Jari about him being invisible in Hamburg and he told me to complain to Jani, who was blocking m view or Panu (the lights guy). I mentioned this was the last show of the year and Jani wrote “Last one? I don’t think so.” on the back of my card. I want to take this as a hint, but I don’t know if it actually is. Once I had secured a spot at the front (and argued with some people who thought it was a fun idea to cut the line and go straight to the stage), I walked over to the mixing desk and mock complained to Panu. He told me that of course he has to work with whatever is available at the venue, so I let him know that apart from Jari being in visible the lights had looked good.
Before the group pic Marko walked up on stage and told us where to stand. There were some jokes about what he was doing up there so I suggested “Whatever you do, don’t scream!” and he joked that it was advice to himself. For the pic I ended up between Captain and Ollie. Soon after G. asked me which songs the were going to play and I said “‘You’re still here’ and ‘Given and Denied’ are missing.” I was right and both songs were lovely. It also felt like I’d had the right number of meet & greets, managing to get eight out of ten songs. Luckily the most important one for me was among them. I now hope they will change the songs next year, but we will see. Some cities don’t even seem to have VIP tickets. Looking back I still liked it better when meet & greets didn’t exist, but I guess there is no going back to those times. Oh well, I am glad I was there then. 🙂
While we were waiting I learned I had a ride back home with C. – that made things a lot easier. With G. to one side and A. on the other I felt perfectly at home. we were in the left today and part of our gang was on the other side. A., D. and E. had decided to stay at the back this time and scored a table near the bar. J. was on my side as well. There were some new people too. They had already been to Berlin and Hamburg and lined up hours before the show. It’s great to see new faces every time. The fanbase still seems to be growing. 🙂 We talked, got drinks, got bored and wanted to show to start. I was sharing tour stories with G., E. was over the moon because Marko had sung a few lines of ‘Dying to Live’ for her during the meet and greet. <3
When the lights went down and the intro started we screamed. I was only allowed to take pictures during the first three songs and did not bother with the pit this time, quite happy to have a gig without my camera. Just because I had not gotten any the previous night, I took a gazillion pictures of Jari. 😀 The audience in Cologne did not disappoint and was loud from the start. This was going to be great! Already in the beginning I was dancing and did it a lot more during the night. I sang together with A. a lot and from time to time with G. as well.
Poets of the Fall shows are fun no matter where in the room I am, but I do admit that I had missed being front row. It was great to be up close again and see all the small gestures, plus getting a close up look of fast fingers playing four or six strings. 😀 Despite my throat already giving me trouble I sang along at the top of my lungs and screamed as loud as I could in response to “Where are you?” during ‘Dreaming wide awake’. Hell, yeah, I was right there and I won’t be going anywhere any time soon. Of course I pointed at each one of the guys, singing “I dream you” and A. next to me did the same I think. Despite taking pictures I was really into it already and it only got better after I put my camera away. I remember Marko motioning at one point “Did you take a picture?” or “Take a picture!”, but I cannot remember when. Somewhere while I still had the camera for sure.
Right before or right after ‘Dancing on Broken Glass’ he sang a few lines from ‘Dying to Live’ and smiled at E. – she was happy and I loved it too. 😀 I loved ‘Dancing on Broken Glass’ as well, really felt it that night. ‘False Kings’ really kicked ass with Ollie and Captain pointing at each other, raising their arms in tune with the music. When I describe it, it does not sound anywhere near as cool as it looks. 😉 Jani stood on both risers in the back, one foot on each of them and Marko checked out Ollie’s guitar skills.
At one point Marko asked us to scream and someone at the front made a somewhat weird noise. He asked what that was and repeated it, sounding somewhat like a bird. Captain in the background formed a bat or bird with his hands and made flying motions. It was quite funny. During ‘Rogue’ Marko walked by everyone and looked closely as the played. For awhile he was sitting on the stage on our side, watching from there, but none of us payed any attention to him so he got back up. 😀 I even turned to A. and said “no-one is looking at him” – we were all too busy watching the others play.
All I can remember about ‘Standstill’ is that I was watching and listening in awe. What else can you do with a song so beautiful? Just when ‘The Sweet Escape’ started I saw Jari suddenly crack up laughing. He actually rested his head on the drums for a moment, trying his best to hide it. Someone must have said something very funny over the in ears. Just noticing how much he laughed I wanted to join him. We had fun with the song, waving our phones back and forth with the lights on in tune with the music -twice right, twice left. Captain, in the back did it with us for a little while. We all realized how long the song is. Eventually C. turned to me saying “My shoulder’s gonna fall off any moment now”. I felt it too and switched hands eventually. Nobody at the front stopped though, we did it for the entire song. 🙂
‘Brighter than the Sun’ had me dancing and many others were swaying with the music too. It’s just that sort of a song. For ‘Cradled in Love’ I tried holding up a real lighter, but it got hot real quick so I gave up. Jani was leaning on to Jaska for a moment. It was sweet. ‘The Dark Disquiet’ was one wild dance party this time. I don’t think I’ve moved that much during the song before and it always made me go nuts. Marko was moving all over the place, even crouching on our side of the stage for a while and singing to us. Luckily he looked at me during a line I actually knew. 😉 He stepped on the barrier, leaned out into the audience and shook hands with people. He also seemed to have forgotten the lyrics, because he repeated one line several times and I never heard the one about the “false kings and bastards”. A bit later, when Jani sat on the drum raiser, he sat down next to him, giving the front of the stage to Jaska and Ollie.
Like every night I enjoyed ‘War’ very much. The memories of years gone by don’t come flooding an more as they did when the guys first brought the song back on the setlist, but the song will always be close to my heart. It was a perfect moment when Marko choose this song to look at me as if saying “I know you’re there”. Each one of the guys looked at me at one point or another during this show or at the end. It felt like they all wanted to give me a chance to say goodbye. <3 I miss the after show hugs that sometimes happened in the early days. When a tour is over and I know I won’t see the band in a while I always feel the need to say goodbye and I’m happy when I get that chance.
From the first notes of ‘Choice Millionaire’ I was jumping along with the guys. Moving across stage, Marko bumped into Jaska, smiled, then stood with him for a while, leaning head to head. For most of the song the were moving though and jumping up and down or waving their arms with the music. Everyone in the room picked up the cues and it was a sea of waving arms. 😀 More jumping during ‘Lift’ and I actually moved around and head-banged so much I could feel it in my neck. Looking over at Ollie, his head moving side to side with flying hair I briefly wondered how he doe sit and if he feels it too. My voice seemed hoarse, but I kept on singing. Nothing was going to stop me that night. The guys were clearly having fun, giving us all they had. Once again I watched Captain in the background who seemed to be catching notes that were escaping from his keyboard. At least that is what it looked like. He was in a zone! 🙂
Once they walked off stage we loudly demanded their return for the encores and soon they obliged. ‘Daze’ kicked some serious butt and they were all rocking the house. Ollie was constantly on the moved, first standing with Captain, “playing” the keyboard without touching it and throwing notes at each other (or just air, who knows?), then stepping on to the drum riser and standing next to Jari. Jaska stood in front of him, they played to each other and Ollie looked like he was kissing the air. Jani joined Jaska, they played together and stuck their tongues out at each other like true rockers do. 😉 It was fun.
‘Lift’ brought it up one more notch and the house down. Anyone who wasn’t jumping or dancing then wasn’t alive. Glen grabbed a drumstick and played drums with Jari, hitting the cymbals. When he left, Jaska gave him a hug in passing. I moved through the entire song, knowing it was my last chance to do so for the night. Only when ‘Carnival of Rust’ started I grew calm. Marko formed a heart with his hands and showed it to us. Yes, we love you too! <3 Of course we waned one more song after that and I took the time to look at each one of them again, smiling, looking at my friends by my side and just being happy in the moment.
They all gathered at the front of the stage, waved goodbye, hugged, lifted each other off of the ground and looked happy. Marko waved goodbye and wanted to leave, but the others reminded him there was a picture to be taken, so we did. Ollie and Captain both came to shake hands with us, Jari threw drumsticks into the crowd. A final bow and they were gone. That was wonderful, thank you so much! See you next year.
I said goodbye to my friends, hugged them all, managed to lose my locker keys in the process, found my ride and went outside. At the care, after finally everyone had arrived, I noticed the missing key, ran back and was lucky: One of the security guys had found it. Exhausted and happy I ran back to the car and we were on our way home. Let us do this again soon!
Poets of the Fall Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Twelve gigs down, none to go. Last stop: home
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: Twelve shows down, none to go