{"id":2579,"date":"2012-11-23T17:47:03","date_gmt":"2012-11-23T15:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/?p=2579"},"modified":"2017-06-22T12:57:50","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T10:57:50","slug":"billy-jean-enter-sandman-and-groundhog-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/?p=2579","title":{"rendered":"Billy Jean, Enter Sandman and Groundhog Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poets of the Fall – FZW, Dortmund; November 22nd, 2012\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Day six of my personal POTF Germany tour and concert number four was preceded by a day off, spent mostly at home with C. and L. who arrived in the evening. We didn\u2019t go out, just enjoyed sitting on my sofa chatting. Finally I managed to get a good night\u2019s sleep too and after picking up A. from the airport I was ready for what the evening would bring. I had to wait for seven years, go to 75 of their concerts and travel many miles to finally see Poets of the Fall in my city, just a short subway ride from home. The excitement I had felt at the beginning of the week was back full force. YES! This was what I had been waiting for. The smile on my face must have been huge. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

Time for lunch and off we went. Upon arrival at the venue the four of us met a few other people \u2013 this early? Already? We hung out, we chatted, I wondered what the big hall looked like because I\u2019d only ever been at the smaller club in this venue. The gig was originally supposed to be there, but sold out so fast it had to be moved to the bigger hall. One of the waiting fans, H., was majorly excited and expressed this by randomly giggling \u201chihi\u201d out of pure happiness. It was contagious; I ended up doing the same later that night and for days to come. More people arrived, J. from the forum brought cupcakes for the Poets. They looked delicious and tasted as good.<\/p>\n

The doors opened and we found ourselves inside a huge venue. I learned it holds 1200 people when the upstairs part is opened too, the biggest venue of the tour. The 50 of us with VIP tickets seemed a little lost in there, but I was confident things would change once everyone was inside. For now we got to enjoy the soundcheck. It was immediately clear that the day off had done the guys a world of good. Everyone looked well rested and Marko showed no signs of being ill any more. The guys were relaxed and in a great mood, already joking around during soundcheck, playing bits and pieces of all sorts of songs. If I recall correctly, Marko mentioned Metallica for some reason, because I remember him joking about growing his sideburns really long. Either way, Jaska started playing \u2018Enter Sandman\u2019, the others joined in and Marko made up some lyrics on the spot. This was going to be a good one.<\/p>\n

They came to talk to us, there were autographs, gifts and many hugs. J. was too shy to speak when she handed the cupcakes over to Ollie so I did the talking for her. It was kinda cute because Ollie was talking to her and she just could not. All was well, I surely remember how that felt like. I had brought my tour poster from Berlin for the guys to sign and asked Marko to raw one of his doodle dudes for me. He did and even wrote something next to it to which Jani wrote an answer later. \ud83d\ude00 I also jokingly complained about him throwing a bottle cap in my direction or jumping at me and asked if he was trying to tell me something. He assured me that it just happened because \u201cyou\u2019re always right there where the action is.\u201d Captain got a few new pens from me. His had given out in Berlin and I had promised to bring a new set. Had the chance to talk to each of the others as well before they disappeared backstage.<\/p>\n

I passed the waiting time seeking out the crew and getting their signatures for my Prowlers of the Fall banner. When I made it I had said that aside from the German street team I wanted the band and the crew to sign it, had gotten the Poets\u2019 signatures back in 2008, but never got the crew\u2019s. Hannu was the first one. He looked at me in disbelief and asked me if I was serious. Why of course. Petri was next, but was busy selling stuff. His sales talk made me laugh, because after the woman was done choosing things, he asked her \u201cAnything more I can do for you? CD? Beanie?\u201d She said no so he continued \u201cA guitarist? A drummer?,\u201d but she declined. I teased he\u2019d get in trouble for saying things like that one day. He deadpanned \u201cNah, I offer them every night. No one ever wants them.\u201d \ud83d\ude00 Once I had his signature I went on to Pyry and told him afterwards that only Einari was missing now. He had been on stage earlier so I went back to the front, but he was gone. A moment later I heard Pyry\u2019s voice behind me \u201cHere is Einari.\u201d \u2013 he had brought him to me. <3 Mission accomplished!<\/p>\n

The Poets were a little late and when the lights went down and the intro began shortly after 8 p.m. people started clapping. They cheered as the guys walked on stage. \u201cWelcome to the Temple of Thought\u201d we heard Marko say and the cheering got louder. I took a quick look around and saw only happy faces, full of expectation. One frozen moment for all of us, right before take off and then… they took us on a rollercoaster ride. During these first few seconds I already knew this was a show were everything fit. The sound was perfect where I stood, the lights were great, I had a good view of everyone on stage and last but not least the day off had done wonders to Marko\u2019s voice \u2013 he sounded amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you ready to have a good time?\u201d he asked us before \u2018Diamonds 4 Tears\u2019 \u2013 affirmative shouts were the answer. Ollie had so much fun he was headbanging and ran across the stage to join Jaska in the back and play with him for a while. For \u2018Temple of Thought\u2019 me and my friends were holding hands, swaying with the music. When I looked around, I saw only happy faces, some even in awe. At one point H. smiled at me and made a thumbs up sign. For \u2018Cradled in Love\u2019 we dug out our lighters. Before the song started Marko told us that everyone there was his friend. When he asked \u201cWhat do you say to your friends\u201d some guy yelled \u201cRakastan sinua!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cExactly\u201d Marko replied and made people laugh.<\/p>\n

The stage went down, Captain\u2019s light rings were clearly visible in the dark, the intro to \u2018Locking up the sun\u2019 started, \u201cHow about we play you guys some rock \u2018n\u2019 roll?\u201d Marko\u2019s voice boomed. Hell yeah! That\u2019s what I came here for! Hands went up in the air, people clapping in unison, jumping, dancing, headbanging. \u2018Signs of Life\u2019 had Jaska jumping up and down on stage. Marko walked over to the far right, too close to the speakers. When he got feedback, he stretched his arm towards the speaker a few more time almost teasingly, but it didn\u2019t happen again. The song itself was beautiful, the best part of it was the spoken part though \u201cYou know, it doesn\u2019t really matter, where you\u2019re coming from or where it is that you\u2019re going. Is what you think you wanna do with your life is what matters. That\u2019s what I\u2019m talking about here. It matters who who are, who you wanna be, what you wanna be and whether you know it or not there is always a way to achieve what you\u2019re going after, because there are always options.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Stay\u2019 was next with Ollie conducting the audience during the \u201cit\u2019s the little things, little things, little things that make the world\u201d sing-along and Marko telling us how good the arms waving looked from stage. \u2018Illusion & Dream\u2019 was the usual awesomeness including a great guitar solo and there are not enough words to describe the beauty of \u2018The Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper\u2019. \ud83d\ude42 After just listening in total awe for a while it was time to rock out again, with \u2018Kamikaze Love\u2019 and \u2018Miss Impossible\u2019. Everyone on stage and in front went completely nuts. Ollie, Jaska and Jani were showing off their guitar and bass playing, Jari drummed like the animal, Marko danced all across the stage and even Captain was headbanging. He also jumped back and forth between the keyboard platform and the drum platform for a while. \ud83d\ude00 The audience was dancing or clapping or jumping as well \u2013 everyone seemed to be moving. During \u2018Late Goodbye\u2019 Marko came down to us for a while and shook hands with people at the front. The song brought another great sing-along and of course Marko had to go and wanted to play Ollie\u2019s guitar. To his surprise he pulled it away though. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The Poets left the stage and we screamed for more. Jani came out first, putting his bass on a barstool, then walked away again. Jari stood by the bass for a bit, then went elsewhere, someone walked behind the drums. When the stage lights came on we saw Marko drumming, Captain with a guitar and Jari behind the keyboards giving it their best shot. Ollie grabbed the mic and sang into it. Laughing they changed back to their own instruments. After that Marko told us he liked a bottle of cold, cold water on a hot day and had much fun spilling it all over us. For some reason the others started playing \u2018Billy Jean\u2019 and he gave us a great impression of Michael Jackson, moonwalk and all. Marko then got another bottle of water, asked us if we knew the movie \u2018Groundhog Day\u2019 and did the whole water spilling all over again. \ud83d\ude00 He announced they were playing a different acoustic song every night and sang the first notes of \u2018Enter Sandman\u2019\u2013 Jaska and Ollie picked up on in and Marko sang the first few lines. When he asked how to sleep with one eye open everyone was laughing. He made up some more lyrics before claiming music was serious business and announcing \u2018Roses\u2019. The whole audience sang along to the chorus. Beautiful!\u00a0 Afterwards, Marko introduced the band. Jaska was first and launched into playing \u2018You really got me\u2019, Ollie jumped all across stage and bowed several times, Captain just raised both arms, cool as always. \ud83d\ude09 When it was Jani\u2019s turn, Jaska blindfolded him with a BVB scarf he had been wearing and Marko told us that \u201creal musicians can do it blindfolded\u201d, Jari then proved that \u201creal musicians can do it with just one hand\u201d and drummed with one arm up n the air.<\/p>\n

\u2018Dreaming wide awake\u2019 rocked the house again. I sang along at the top of my lungs, jumping, being happy. Everyone else had fun too and the guys visibly enjoyed playing for us. \u2018Carnival of Rust\u2019 brought great cheers as usual. Marko asked us to put any lights we had in the air and create stars for them and many people did. It must have looked beautiful. \u201cDon\u2019t walk away, when my heart is yearning\u201d \u2013 I surely didn\u2019t want this gig and this night to end. Yet \u2018Lift\u2019 came along as the last outburst of energy before it was over. Once more the guys gave all they had. Jari hit the drums again like a madman, Ollie got on his knees for his solo, Marko danced round and around with the microphone stand, Jaska carried Jani on his shoulders and Captain conducted everything. Before he left stage, Marko thanked us and yelled \u201cyou know I\u2019m a psycho\u201d once. The others continued playing and Ollie jumped high in the air at the end. They waved and left while people continued cheering until the music stopped.<\/p>\n

It was one hell of a show, people had huge smiles on their faces when the lights went back on. Those who stayed got the chance to meet all the Poets again. Finally I asked Captain for one of the LED light rings and got one. He explained that Ollie had bought a huge bag of them. I had bee giving the guys a scale for each concert in Germany and he was curious to know what it was. I gave them a ten out of ten. Jani joked if the after show party was gonna be at my house so I told him to bring limes. Jaska only came down to us after I waved to him, but then he signed everyone\u2019s arms. They were in a wonderful mood. I thanked them all and hugged everyone but Jari who was carried away by the local crew as they wanted us to leave.<\/p>\n

They kicked us out eventually and a group of us went out for drinks. We actually had trouble finding a bar that still served something, because it was a weeknight, but we did get drinks an spent some time reliving the gig. Caught a taxi home well after midnight, all still excited and very very happy.<\/p>\n

Poets of the Fall autumn tour – 9 gigs down, 5 to go. Next stop: Hamburg<\/p>\n

Running Out of Time
\nDiamonds for Tears
\nTemple of Thought
\nCradled in Love
\nLocking Up the Sun
\nSigns of Life
\nStay
\nIllusion and Dream
\nJeremiah Peacekeeper
\nKamikaze Love
\nMiss Impossible
\nLate Goodbye<\/p>\n

Roses (acoustic version) + band intro
\nDreaming Wide Awake
\nCarnival of Rust
\nLift<\/p>\n

pictures of this concert<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poets of the Fall – FZW, Dortmund; November 22nd, 2012\u00a0\u00a0 Day six of my personal POTF Germany tour and concert number four was preceded by a day off, spent mostly at home with C. and L. who arrived in the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[56,13,19,102,17,9,159,14],"class_list":["post-2579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concert","tag-dortmund","tag-fan","tag-friends","tag-fzw","tag-germany","tag-poets-of-the-fall","tag-temple-of-thought","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2579"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8032,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2579\/revisions\/8032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}