Crazy playing, private jokes and much laughter

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Poets of the Fall – Amarillo, Lappeenranta; April 7th 2017

When Poets of the Fall announced their Finnish tour dates, Lappeenranta was the only gig on that particular weekend and since it was a Friday, I had originally decided to skip it. Then, Levi was announced for the following day and I told myself I didn’t need to see all of the concerts. Who was I kidding? After the concert in Himos I searched until I found a flight to Kittilä and booked the entire weekend. So I found myself at Amarillo in Lappeenranta for the 13th concert of this tour and knew I would not have wanted to miss it. It felt shorter than any other gig (it wasn’t), which only proves that time flies when you’re having fun. 😀

For the second time since the start of this tour I had a direct flight and arrived in Finland somewhat well rested. Didn’t get to Lappeenranta before 7 pm, but that was more than enough for a gig that started at 11. Had some food, got ready and joined S. and H. who were already queuing with a few others. I had not remembered the venue at all, but it was pretty nice with a wide stage and a door we could see through. Time came for soundcheck and we were asked to not watch so we moved away. We could still hear everything and took the opportunity to have a drink or sample the food at Amarillo. After soundcheck we went back to the door and just before they opened a few more people arrived as well. The stage was wide, so there a lot of space in front row. We got a nice spot on the right in front of Ollie and only had one hour to wait until show start. 🙂

Even before the concert I had noticed that both Marko and Jani had new haircuts and jokes with S. about them having the same hairdresser, because both had the sides of their heads shaved . Maybe they did it to each other. 😉 Yep, we always find something to joke about. With all the time we spend waiting we do need some entertainment.

It was such a relaxed show from the start. The crowd was good in terms of cheering and otherwise just very friendly. not many drunk people, everyone just having a good time. From the start I was in a zone, wanting to feel every note. I had decided not to take pictures, but the moment Ollie joined Captain behind the keyboards to play with him, I could not help myself and picked up my camera anyway. I have rarely had such a good view of them playing together. So my resolve had lasted about three songs. 😀 I was much rewarded though: Jani, Ollie, Captain and Marko all posed for me, pointing in my direction, sticking out their tongue or just giving me a cool look. 😛

Since the Levi gig would happen on April 8th I had always though of that one as Ollie’s birthday show, but with the late start, of course this one was. He seemed to go extra crazy that night, wanting to leave his thirties with some extra awesome rock poses. 😉 The others teased him about it too and Marko explained to us that he was turning 20 that night. I briefly wondered if he even was allowed on stage at that age, but the age limit was 18. 😛 Ollie was clearly enjoying the attention and when he needed a footrest during a solo, Glen even brought him an equipment case and put it up in front of him. 😀

Ollie wasn’t the only one going wild that night. Everyone showed their skills and the guys played to and with each other a lot. At one point Jani and Ollie were standing in front of Captain, playing with him. Then Ollie decided they needed more people and waved to Jaska to come and join him, sorta drawing him in with hands until he was with them. Together they all stood in front  of the keyboards in a half circle, presenting their best rock moves. It was beautiful!

Marko sang to me several times, especially long during ‘The Game’ where we did a full verse together. I’m just glad he picked one I actually know how to sing. 😉 Of course he sang to other people as well and often leaned out towards the audience, holding out his mic to make us sing or scream. Just as often he visited everyone else in the band, watching them work, singing to them or leaning on to their shoulders. Once he stood across from Jani and stretched his arms out to the sides until Jani copied him.

So many times S. and I looked at each other and smiled, because it is such a joy seeing them live or we had just witnessed something especially fu, cool or crazy. At other times we were completely caught up in the music, having our gig faces on. This look can’t really be explained, but it happens to all of us and we all recognize it when we see it. It is best described as a mixture of adoration and pure joy.

Jani was all over the place, kicking out,duelling with Ollie or playing with Captain. He is always up for some crazy moves and can often be seen raising his bass up in the air or beating it with his hand. Jaska showed us some awesome guitar skills, especially during his solos. For ‘War’ the space googles were out again, but he’d been standing behind Captain, playing with them long before that. During ‘Lift’ he stood at the front, conducting our sing-along.

I loved how close they all were and being such a short distance from Ollie, I took the opportunity to play a little joke on him during ‘Carnival of Rust’. At the meet & greet in Himos we had learned of a running gag between him and Nina and I had prepared a sign referring to that. The moment he looked my way, I held it up for him to read. He remembered, smiled at me and nodded. I took it down quickly and nobody else saw it. Not all of the guys would have understood it anyway, much less the audience and like this it felt like a private joke between Ollie and me. 😀

I remember Marko dancing a lot, lifting his mic stand in the air, twirling it round and round and once just standing there with his hands on his hips in a “what has been going on here?” – pose not directed at anyone in particular. During ‘Locking up the Sun’ he carefully folded a towel and fanned Ollie with it. I was laughing already and laughed even more, when Glen ran through between them in a half crouch, carrying Ollie’s “footrest” to the front in time for the next song.

This concert had gone by ultra fast. I could not believe it when they started  ‘Everything fades’ already – where had time gone? I could remember each and every song, but it still felt as if they had left out a few. It seemed impossible that this was the halfway mark and the rest of the show went just as quickly. It wasn’t the first one I wished to be longer, or better yet, not stop at all. We had some more fun moments before the end though. Marko was playing invisible instruments again. I think it was a flute this time and from my point of view it looked like he was playing a light beam. I tried to capture all of it with my camera and failed as usual. There is just too much going on. During ‘Lift’, S., H. and I did the “on and on and on” movement – Marko smiled when he saw us. 🙂 After ‘Children of the Sun’ Ollie was so busy shaking hands, he didn’t notice that the others were waiting for him to take a final bow together. They did eventually and left.

S. and I said goodbye to H., returned to our hotel and tried to get some sleep before our early start the next morning. Not before talking everything over though. Reminiscing is and essential part of it all and I am always happy to have someone to share the memories with.

Setlist

Shadow Play
Daze
Dreaming Wide Awake
Diamonds 4 Tears
The Game
The Labyrinth
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Drama for Life
Everything fades
Locking up the sun
Carnival of Rust

War
Lift
Children of the Sun

pictures of this concert

Clearview Finland tour: 13 gigs down, 2 to go. Next stop: Levi

Lousy pickup line, bannister to sit on and Ollie getting all the appreciation

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Poets of the Fall – Puikkari, Kuopio; April 1st, 2017

It was winter in Kuopio when we arrived. Considering I had left spring in Germany, I could have done with less snow. The weather has rarely stopped me from attending concerts though and it was not gonna stop me now. in fact last time I had seen Poets of the Fall in Kuopio they played in July and it had been unusually cold, whereas snow in April is not a surprise in Finland. Surprising, however, was the late start time. S. and I both had read showtime would be at 22:00, but it was actually midnight. Waaaah? Oh well,… Needless to say the gig was worth freezing in the cold and losing sleep over. It was brilliant and we both walked away quite happy.

The day had started with a long and relaxed breakfast in Lati, followed by an uneventful train ride to Kuopio. We had just settled in and gone downstairs to have a tea when the guys arrived. I only noticed when Captain walked up to me from behind and said “Boo!” 😀 We briefly said hello to Captain and Jani, who had seen us, but left everyone else alone and went for a tea. Fast forward a few hours and we were standing outside the venue waiting. There was an entrance from the hotel, but we were not allowed to sue that one. Luckily it was not as cold as I had feared, we had a nice chat with the people who arrived after us and got in just a little bit late.

The meet & greet had ten or twelve people – a good sized group. The guys had fun posing for some band pictures after all of us were done with their photos. 🙂 S. and I started talking to Captain first, then Ollie joined us. I joked about him looking familiar and he was like “No, you must confuse me with someone else”. this went on until S. quipped that I had used a terrible pickup line. 😀 We all laughed at that. we told them about the fun we had the previous weekend and how good the sound was all this tour. We also told them how much we light the current lights set up – bringing their own lights was a good choice. Marko joined us and I said “Look, today they are all coming to us.” 🙂 He demanded a hug from me too which I gladly gave. 🙂 We talked about tour life and he gave a funny description of people sleeping on the tour bus, doing everything to block out too much light. Jani joined us, but somehow we were interrupted and went back to him later. We admitted to being crazy and having to stay in front row now for the next three hours and he thought it was crazy indeed. After that, we talked to Jari for quite some time too, about great Italian food in Kuopio, the life of a session drummer and other things. Food was an ongoing theme that night. Everyone was hungry. We never got around to speaking wit Jaska, even though he had already been there when we walked in and we had briefly said hello. Somehow it was over too fast, or it felt like it because we were taking our time.

Having to wait much longer than we thought we would have to, S. went back to our room to have some food, since she did not have much since breakfast. I kept our spot at the front, having to move out of the way a lot for the crew to get through. The stage had a bannister around it everywhere but at the center where the gap was closed by two ropes. This was the only way to get to the stage if you weren’t coming from backstage, so everyone had to pass me. Glen apologized every time too. Awww. 🙂 S. got back and we spent the time taking – for once the music in the room was not too loud to do that. Eventually the place filled up and by the time midnight rolled around a nice crowd had gathered.

It was a good crowd too, into the show right from the start. That was what I had been hoping for. 🙂 The bannister around the stage that strangely went on on the stage to the left and right of the center, thereby fencing in Ollie, Jaska and Jani, was not great for taking pictures, but sure gave the guys some opportunities and a few ideas. 😉 Already during one of the first songs, Marko climbed up on it, walked towards the audience and then jumped down again. It served as a seat quite a few times too, but turned out being a little too high as a footrest. 😉

There was good energy in the room and on stage. The Poets played together as much as they teased each other. Ollie spent a lot of time with Captain, both rocking out behind the keyboards. He jumped off the keyboard raiser again as well, together with Jaska. I knew that was coming and wanted to capture it, but Marko was in the way. It happens.  There are many times I’ve seen Marko pulling on Jani’s tie, but it was different that night. Not only did he grab Jani’s tie with his right and pulled him closer (with Jani making a scared face too), but he pretended to punch him with his left. Later on though, there were lots of hugs too with Jani leaning on to Marko’s shoulder. Once, they were standing right at the center of the stage, but the mic stand was in the way. Marko noticed and pushed it over to the side with his foot, all the while continuing to sing. 🙂

Everyone, who was not stationary behind his instrument got their moment in the spotlight at the front and center of the stage, playing close enough to us to touch. When it was Jaska’s turn he stepped all the way to the edge of the stage, almost knocking us out with his guitar. 😀 During ‘War’ he stood in front of us with his arms crossed over his face and slowly leaned forward. It was a very cool moment. His space googles made an appearance again as well and were first worn by Jaska and later by Captain, who bowed to him in thanks when he returned them.

Marko did a lot of acrobatics with the mic stand that night, like twirling it round and round, all the while rolling it up his arms and lifting it over his head all the time. He also used the microphone like a baseball bat, pretending to hit Ollie with it. 😀 At one point he randomly asked if his bottom looked good in the jeans he was wearing and turned so we could check it out. Someone yelled back “good enough.”

Ollie got lots of appreciation. During ‘Rogue’ Jani pointed to him with his bass and when the encores rolled around Ollie was on the keyboard raiser, playing on his knees with Captain pointing down to him during a solo. Then Jani got down on his knees playing in front of him, Jaska joined them and in the end Marko was on his knees bowing to Ollie. Some people in the audience did it too. A perfect moment!

It must have been hot on stage, because Jaska got rid of his jacket for the encores and Jani was shirtless and sweating all over the place. During ‘Lift’ he was standing in front of Jari, who showed him four fingers, then only three. I was wondering what that was all about, joking with S. after the show that he was ordering three beer. Turns out he was grading Jani. After the show we ran into him and asked. His answer was “He was dissing me!” So that must have been four on a ten scale. They were just having a laugh though, nothing worth dissing occurred.

These are all the little moments I remember, but I a sure there were tons more I forgot. They stood with each other a lot and often leaned on to each other that night too. It was one of those concerts you just leave with a big happy smile on your face, knowing you’ve been part of something wonderful. Both S. and I were too excited to sleep afterwards, chatting and laughing for a long time before we finally went to bed, dreaming of the next weekend.

Setlist

Shadow Play
Daze
Dreaming Wide Awake
Diamonds 4 Tears
The Game
The Labyrinth
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Drama for Life
Everything fades
Locking up the sun
Carnival of Rust

War
Lift
Children of the Sun

pictures from this concert

Clearview Finland tour: 12 gigs down, 3 to go. Next stop: Lappeenranta