There is peace in no expectations

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Poets of the Fall – The Garage, Glasgow; October 12th, 2018

Day three of my Poets of the Fall UK tour was the best experience so far. It was one of those magical gigs where everything was right. All the important things anyway like the general mood, the audience and the performance. The venue was small and hot which isn’t bad, but the lights and sound left a few things to be desired. Yet the band made me forget all about that, because they gave us one hell of a show. Mixed with my own positive feelings that night it summed up to something brilliant. After the gig, I walked out smiling like a loon (for those of you who remember: grenzdebiles Grinsen), happiness and faith in the band fully restored. 😀

It was a long trip to Glasgow after a rather short night. Got a little over four hours of sleep and started the journey at my friends’ place in London at 6 am. Tour mode: on. It was a direct train and a long ride so I could have used it to sleep, but I chose to blog instead and listen to some of the ‘Ultraviolet’ to at least get a rough idea of the lyrics. 😉 It was nice and I spent some time crying when the words hit home. When I finally arrived I was exhausted and could have used a nap, but instead I got a 25 minute walk through the pouring rain and waiting at the hotel bar for an hour for my room. Meh. A. arrived shortly after, completely soaked. We hugged and spent some time catching up before going out for pre-show pizza. Belly filled we searched for and found the venue, being the first at the door. Since we had nowhere else to be and a roof over our heads, we decided to stay. Slowly more people arrived: from Northern Ireland, the US and Spain. Just as I started if there was anyone from Scotland some locals showed up. They looked familiar too and were at the Glasgow show last year.

We spent the time talking to B. and B. from Wisconsin, said hello to Tiia and Satu when they arrived and eventually wondered if we were at the right door because the building held several venue. One guy checked with the staff and they said we were gonna go in from there. Shortly after six, someone came around the building and picked us up. We went in at the back after all. Nobody even checked our bags, it was just down a few stairs and right into the meet & greet.

The guys were seated in two booths as we walked in. That immediately felt more welcoming than the long table in Bristol. A. and I were the first to meet Captain, Marko and Ollie and they greeted us with big smiles. Ollie noted that A. had cut her hair. We talked a little bit about our trip and the shitty weather, joked. Then I took the opportunity to ask them about this year’s Christmas concert and they told me it was not in their hands and they didn’t know yet, but there would be more gigs in Finland next year for sure. The final thing I did was thank them for restoring my faith in the band which I though I might have lost. They really did with the first two shows. We moved on to “the J table”, chatted with them briefly too and picked our spots in front row. Now we were waiting for everyone else to get done and told B.and B. to get a front row spot as well.

When everyone gathered for the group picture, I asked Marko for a hug and he gladly obliged, noting that it’s been a long time. It has been indeed. <3 Looks like I’m back to gathering one hug at a time, a since I got one from Jaska after the Bristol show. Fine with me. 🙂 Taking a picture of course included some joking around and moving people. The guys stepped up on the stage and sat down. Marko told us they were gonna play a few songs for us and talked a bit more. Eventually he turned to Ollie and said “Oh, you’re still here” and Ollie noted “Good one”. so I knew what was coming. It was a lovely version of the song. <3 They added ‘Roses’, always a favorite of mine. That was a lot more like it. 😀 If the song selection keeps going like this from now on I’ll be happy! Still not 100% convinced, but getting there.

Blackout Problems started at 7:30 again and this time around I really loved their set. It was the same as in London, but with each night they are growing on me. I don’t know if it’s me getting used to their music or them getting better and it doesn’t matter in the end. The important part is enjoying it. They sure had fun! Their energy was great and people clapped along early on. Energy was flowing back and forth between the stage and the audience. I#m starting to recognize the songs and a little bit of the lyrics too which made it even better. When the singer made his way into the crowd during ‘Difference’, people seemed surprised, but caught on quickly. The band sure looked like found their place and felt comfortable. They were more relaxed than in Bristol and went with the flow. It was awesome and when they jumped, I did too. It just felt like the right thing to do. Towards the end of the show, during ‘Rome’ the singer hopped off the stage again with his guitar and ended up playing standing on the bar. Their tech guy ran after him with the microphone when e realized he wasn’t coming back any time soon. It was all sorts of awesome and the perfect ending to their set.

Setlist

Kaos
Difference
Limit
Kontrol
Rome

I was in a great mood already and enjoyed watching Glen and the rest of the crew changing the stage. Talked to one of the UK crew who watched over us for the m&g to ask about my photo pass and he said he’d already told security I was OK to take pictures. 😀 For some reason Glen and Marko H. were standing across from each other and bumping bellys. We got a good laugh out of it. 🙂 Time passed quickly and I was getting more excited by the minute. The last Glasgow show had been amazing and I had a good feeling about that one. Since the lights had been pretty bad for Blackout Problems I momentarily considered putting my camera away, but didn’t in the end.

The lights went down and people chanted, I can’t remember what it was exactly, but something along the lines of “Now we fucking go!”. You could feel the high expectations and excitement in the air! To “Whatever you do… don’t scream” the entire audience responded with screaming extra loud. It was great. I’m starting to like the intro too. This show was off to a good start! Once again the first song was ‘Dreaming wide awake’ so I guess they are going to stick with that order of songs now. It rocked and I was jumping already, of course pointing at them in turn “I dream *you* wide awake”. My mood was great and they looked like they were having fun too. B., next to me was in awe. Yep, we all remember our first gig, that is what it felt like! She handed Marko a rose and he only took it apart a little, trying to put it behind his ear where it didn’t stay long. Eventually, after carrying it for a while he put it down on Ollie’s pedal board.

“I want you to know I still love you” I pantomimed during ‘Dancing on broken Glass’. Ollie was the only one who noticed I believe and he gave me a smile in return. 🙂 I’m getting better with singing along too, but I still can’t remember all the lyrics. Not the case for ‘False Kings’ where I sang my heart out with every word. 🙂 I love that song! “Inside each one of us there is a temple of though” Marko announced and the cheers that followed showed how much loved the song is. It has always meant a lot to me and I still want to be that much in love again. It might have been during that song that Marko reached out for the first time, shaking B.’s hand, then mine and a few others. Much later he locked fingers with her for a while and I joined in too. It was a beautiful moment. <3

‘Rogue’ was a blast, with me getting some up close views of Jaska, Jani and Ollie playing. I can never get enough of watching their fingers work. 😀 ‘Standstill’ followed and really killed me this time. Marko told us he enjoyed it, because it is one of his favorite tunes to sing. I got quite emotional over it and was very close to tears. The lyrics are really fitting right now and it feels like I have taken more than one step after the fall already but there are still many to come. It is quite alright though, it’s all part of the game. :’)

I loved the entire concert, even though objectively it had the worst lights and sound so far. Still, the atmosphere in the room and the wonderful people by my side made up for all of that. I was happy to have A. there with me. While I like to have a gig to myself once in a while it is almost always better to share the experience. By the looks of it I had not promised too much when I told her she’d like it. I enjoyed ‘Brighter than the sun’ and wondered why I still could not remember all the words. Maybe it’s time for a few more listens? Marko made us sing at the end and we did it loudly. It sounded pretty nice too. 🙂 Then he instructed us to switch on the lights on our phones for ‘Cradled in Love’. I turned to A. and mouthed “If I must”, shrugged and did it anyway until I put the phone down to take some pictures.

There was a pillar almost at the center of the stage that made it difficult for me to take pictures of Jari, but it also made a good prop for Marko to hug or the others to lean on at times. 🙂 Jani was throwing kisses at people in the audience and everyone showed the brightest smiles. They all seemed so happy to be there. I loved dancing to ‘My Dark Disquiet’ and ‘Daze’. I really don’t thinkI could stand still during those two. From time to time I looked over at B., being lost in the music and smiled. It is always wonderful to see anyone attending their first Poets concert. She had her gig face on and got a lot of attention too. Once, when Marko took her hand, I moved back a little to take a picture of them together. At another time he leaned out towards us and we both held on to his outstretched hand for a while.  <3

As always the main set ended too quickly. Before I knew it the guys said goodbye and we were clapping and cheering for them to come back out. ‘Locking up the sun’ went by in a happy blur of jumping, dancing and singing along at the top of my lungs. 🙂 At the start of ‘The Sweet Escape’ Marko sang some other song, but I wasn’t really paying attention, because I was watching Jari in the back. My tired mind wanted me to believe that he made an attempt at Chris de Burgh’s ‘Lady in Red’, but it was probably something else entirely. I just wanted to believe that, because thanks to the little fandeer Pam I know know that is the song the into to ‘The Sweet Escape’ resembles. *giggles* It’s fine, I actually do like both songs. This time I did OK on the sing along too. Ollie was checking and seemed satisfied with my efforts.

The show was winding down too quickly and I was not ready to let go yet. It felt absolutely perfect. The music, the people around me, the interactions with the band. I was so very present in the moment that at times things seemed to happen in slow motion, only to speed up in the next second and leaving me feeling like I missed a million things. There was way too much going on too. Luckily, the analytical “let’s try to remember this”-mode was only there in passing and I was able to fully enjoy going with the flow, living the music, singing at the top of my lungs, jumping like crazy and then just being in awe for a while. Sometimes I wonder how they still do it after all this time and all these shows, how they still manage to capture my attention so fully and take me away from real life into another realm. To this day I have no answer. Maybe that is why I have to keep coming back…

Eventually there was only ‘Choir of Cicadas’ left. Since I don’t know the lyrics I settled for watching the guys and taking pictures. At the beginning of the song Jani gets a break so he used it to drink water. Then he threw the empty bottle behind him (without looking I think) and it cam every close to Jari, i.e. flew over his head. Jari just looked and cracked up laughing. When Jari laughed so hard I could not help myself and cracked up as well. Then Jani started laughing, either because of Jari or me. It was hilarious 😀 It also may have spoiled the song a bit, at least for the people around me. I am so sorry, it was not my intention to spoil anything for you.

So it all ended on a happy high note. B. and B. were over the moon with happiness, saying Poets played exactly the songs they wanted to hear. A. loved it too, all was well. We went over to the merch table to say hello to Tiia and Satu. Some joking ensued with the tour manager. At the meet & greet he had told us there’d be a group pic and I was like “I know” so he grinned said “Why don’t you tell the people then?” and walked away. So I did. After the gig Tiia told him who I was and he’s like “Yeah, I know” so I concluded that I must be famous and asked “Or infamous?”. Bit of both apparently. As we finally left the venue we ran into him again and I asked his name: Ben. Nice guy. 🙂

After establishing that B. and B. had a flight to catch from London at 3 in the afternoon on Sunday, we had concluded that they had more than enough time to come to Nottingham with us the following day (a Saturday) and they didn’t need all that much convincing to agree. We had a few drinks, walked them home and promised to pick them up the next morning on our way to the train station. Goodnight, see you soon.

pictures of this concert

Poets of the Fall Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Three gigs down, nine to go. Next stop: Nottingham

Setlist

Dreaming Wide Awake
Dancing on Broken Glass
False Kings
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Standstill
Brighter Than the Sun
Cradled in Love
My Dark Disquiet
War
Daze
Sleep

Encore:
Locking Up the Sun
The Sweet Escape
Lift
Carnival of Rust
Choir of Cicadas

Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Three shows down, nine to go

I want you to know I still love you…

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Poets of the Fall – O2 Academy Islington, London; October 11th, 2018

Sitting on an early train to Glasgow I am reminiscing about Poets of the Fall London show last night and wondering who made this “let us zig-zag across the UK”-tour schedule. I certainly did not get enough sleep last night. 😉 Anyway, that’s not what you came here to read, so let me tell you that last night’s show was great. I have a slightly better feel about Bristol, but that might have been the “first time on a new tour” effect. Lights, sound and audience were all brilliant and everyone had lots of fun, myself included. This is shaping up to a good tour. 😀

Luckily I got a much needed good night’s sleep after Bristol, even had breakfast at my hostel and arrived in London well rested. Made it to my friends’ house, stayed and chatted for an hour or so and was out the door again to go to the venue, a 45 minute tube ride away. There were long lines already when I arrived and the VIP ticket holders had just gone in. Met up with L. and we chatted a bit, but she didn’t want to queue and opted for dinner instead. First she kept my spot though and I got some food as well. 🙂 They let us in a little late and surprised me with announcing that “this is a gum free venue” – WTF??? Otherwise everything went smoothly and I did have a photo pass too. Thank you Mike Lynch and Poets! Went inside and found a great spot upstair. I was dead center, just like the previous night, only higher up and further back. It was a perfect view, if a slightly strange angle. First it was empty up there, but all of a sudden people crowded it. Downstairs it looked pretty packed too. Full house!

This time Blackout Problems started at 8 and again they won over the audience quickly. They are certainly fun to watch and their energy easily spilled over to the crowd. I loved seeing them move around, dance and jump like crazy. They told us how lucky they felt to be invited on this tour, their first in the UK how great the audience looked. Sometimes I wish I had their point of view. The distance between the stage and the audience was bigger than in Bristol, but that did not keep the singer from going into the crowd during ‘Difference’. I watched how the long cable on his mic disappeared to the back and everyone helped passing it over to the side when he came back. That was fun. ‘Limit’, he told us, is a song about friendship and during ‘Kontrol’ they got a nice clap along going. I am really starting to like them. The last song was ‘Rome’ their new single, coming out at midnight. They thanked us, saying German bands don’t get to go to the UK so often unless they are Rammstein and joked about spitting fire backstage. 😀 Of course they all wanted to make us jump again, but it didn’t work so well. They did great though, I am looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow. 🙂

Setlist

Kaos
Difference
Limit
Kontrol
Rome

Once the stage setup was changed it felt like a long time until the lights went down, mainly because I really didn’t have anyone to talk too. Had chatted with a couple next to me earlier, but not now, so I just watched the people downstairs. If I hadn’t been scared of not getting my spot back, I might have gone to the merch to chat with Satu and Tiia, who were stuck outside the main hall and sported awesome violet wigs today. Anyway, I stayed where I was and waited. As soon as the lights went down, the audience started clapping and shouting “Poets! Poets!” – it was awesome! When the guys walked out they were greeted with loud cheers. 🙂

To my surprise they started with Dreaming wide awake’ this time. It kicked off the show in high gear and I was singing at the top of my lungs from the start. As it seemed, I was the only one who did so upstairs. That was not going to keep me from singing though, or doing all the moves for that matter. It’s all part of the experience. 😀 ‘Dancing on broken Glass’ was second this time. I actually thought it worked better the other way around. Maybe because it was new, while ‘Dreaming wide awake’ has been the first song before. It was fine though and it certainly got people moving. I do like the lyrics to ‘Dancing on Broken Glass’ and can related to them, even though what I feel about it has nothing to do with the meaning we have been offered for that song. It’s the beauty of it that it can fit other situations too. Right then an there, “I want you to know I still love you” was what I wanted to tell the guys. I’ve told them a few times already that I am not going anywhere and will be in this for life and that remains true, even with occasional doubts. 🙂

Early on I waved to Ollie when he was looking in my general direction. He usually spots me, no matter where I am in the crowd and he smiled when he saw me waving. Moments later, Marko spotted me to and gave me a nod. Being acknowledged, even if only for a brief moment, makes me feel connected. It has always been part of the band’s magic that they remember their fans and let them know they recognize them. I love how they show us their appreciation this way. <3

For ‘False Kings’ I was air drumming and from the corner of my eye caught someone giving me a strange look. Smiled and continued. Everyone can enjoy the show their own way. I tried to turn down my singing when I saw people filming though and hope I didn’t ruin too many recordings. 😉 ‘Temple of Thoughts’ brought chills indeed. That song has been important to me from the start and carries many awesome memories already, but recently got a whole new layer of meanings for me and I sang along with all of my heart. During the chorus Marko tried to get us to wave along, but failed. I was the only one who picked up on his cue at least as far as I could see. For the second chorus he tried clapping. That worked much better. 🙂

Is there anything I haven’t said about ‘Rogue’ yet? I am not a huge fan of instrumentals in general, but this one has a special place in my heart. This time it gave me the opportunity to get some great pictures from an unusual perspective. Watching the guys work together is such a joy and I never get tired of seeing them directing everyone’s attention toward each other so each one of them gets his chance to be in the spotlight. <3 ‘Standstill’ was brilliant. The acoustic treatment serves the song well. I really enjoy how the melody and the lyrics compliment each other here. That can be said for many songs I guess, but here it is the perfect match to me. I suddenly remembered a moment from the previous night when Tiia and I smiled at each other during the “first hello to the late goodbye” line – shared appreciation for the reference. Musically, I feel the song takes me back to ‘Signs of Life’ too so it fits.

‘Brighter than the Sun’ was fun and brought Marko closer to the audience, leaning out into the crowd and shaking hands. He did not climb over the barrier though. Instead he directed us when to scream, first one side of the room, then the other, then the center and in the end everyone together. Yes, we can follow instructions! 😛 Marko talked about “The dark disquiet you feel when you can’t sleep at night” and I knew what he meant. The song is slowly growing on me and I feel the need to revisit it to figure out more of the lyrics. I am still not sure about the strings though. I love strings in general, but I prefer them to be real. When I heard them, I had an image on my mind of Poets playing this song with an orchestra or at least a string quartet. Can someone please make that happen? A lot of people in the audience were moving along to the song, but especially two on the far left caught my attention, going absolutely nuts and jumping in tune with the song. Way to go! 😀

At some point during the night I saw Jani walk up to Jari and tell him something which made both of them laugh. I spotted a few similar interactions that night and am really curious as to what was going on, but will never know. It is always fun seeing things go on in the background though. Later during the gig, Jani stood in front of the drums with a small camera and took pictures of Jari. I have no idea what that was about either, but it sure was fun to watch. There was some hugging going on too and I saw the guys sticking their tongues out at each other a few times too. They were clearly enjoying themselves. I watched Captain conducting the other band members at times when they were not visiting him behind the keyboards and both Jaska and Jani sat down on he drum raiser to play.

With ‘War’ came another memory of the previous night. When Marko looked at me to sing together I had a short blackout regarding the lyrics. They immediately came back to me, but it amuses me that after all these years he still sometimes has this effect on me, especially when it is a song I could normally sing in my sleep. I think he noticed too. 😀 ‘Daze’ came around and I got my chance to show I can sing along. Marko pointed up at me, I pointed back down and we shared the “Let the whole world burn” line. One perfect moment. 🙂

The encores arrived much too soon and I was rocking out to ‘Locking up the sun’, still as far as I could see the only one in the audience turning back time. 😉 I actually missed this song when it wasn’t being played. It is just way to much fun to jump to it. 😀 ‘The Sweet Escape’ was lovely and I took the opportunity to film it while I had a good view and wasn’t too close to the speakers for once. The sound turned out OK too. 🙂 ‘Lift’ had everyone going nuts, even upstairs, but there wasn’t much space to properly jump. I’m sorry if I hit any feet. When it was done, I mentally prepared for the end of the show, momentarily forgetting that we had two songs to go.

After all these years, ‘Carnival of Rust’ still gets to me. It is just as meaningful and amazing as it was the very first time I heard it. Different lines of the song have been important at different times in my life and there is always something in there that I can relate to. 🙂 Then it was time for the finale. At the front, people switched on their phone lights and held them to the back to show everyone what to do. It worked and the venue lit up for ‘Choir of Cicadas’. Then it was over and they said goodbye. Jani spotted me, smiled and pointed, so I smiled and pointed back and Jaska send me a smile as well. They all looked happy and I felt their smiles reflected on my face. It had been a good night. 🙂

On the way out I found L. again and met E. too, who had timed her vacation perfectly for this concert. Didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Tiia and Satu as they were too busy selling merch and we were ushered out. Reviewing the concert we quickly agreed it had been great and said goodbye until the next time.

pictures of this concert

Poets of the Fall Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Two gigs down, ten to go. Next stop: Glasgow

Setlist

Dreaming Wide Awake
Dancing on Broken Glass
False Kings
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Standstill
Brighter Than the Sun
Cradled in Love
My Dark Disquiet
War
Daze
Sleep

Encore:
Locking Up the Sun
The Sweet Escape
Lift
Carnival of Rust
Choir of Cicadas

Ultraviolet Tour 2018: Two shows down, ten to go