Poets of the Fall – Tulisuudelma, Vantaa; March 24th, 2017
I can’t remember how many Poets of the Fall shows I have seen at Tulisuudelma in Vantaa, but it certainly is a high number. Every time I wonder why I keep coming back or why the guys even play there in the first place. The venue isn’t all that great with usually bad sound and lights, the show starts incredibly late, the audience is always drunk and they overcharge you for drinks. It feels completely different from a concert in Helsinki and the crowd is nowhere near the same either and yet, somehow, the guys always manage to make it a great show.
It was a regular working day for me, if a bit short and I went to the airport straight from the office. With a rather short connection time in Copenhagen I was nervous all the way to Helsinki and rightfully so – in the end I had 20 minutes between arrival at the gate and scheduled departure time for my connecting flight at the opposite end of the airport. I barely made it. From then on, everything went smoothly and I got to the hotel in Vantaa just in time for the meet & greet, only because they were running late though.
Either way, I made it and it was fun. For the picture I rearranged Jari to stand next to Jani and afterwards told Captain “challenge completed”, because I now had pictures with all possible combinations of them by my side. 😀 Stuck with Captain for quite some time chatting about gig memories and such before moving on to Jari who told me about the previous weekend and playing at an ice castle. Apparently it is rather cold and makes a funny sound when lots of people clap with their gloves on. 🙂 A quick hug and hello with all of the others and the meet & greet was over already. A., D. and E. had never gotten around to talking to Jari and just before he left they hug attacked him from three sides. It was a nice group hug. 😀
Now we were in for a long wait that I spent mostly chatting with Z. whom I had not seen since last October. it was so good to have her back! K., H. and E. arrived as well, standing behind me. Like in Himos the previous week or on the cruise gigs, the long time between opening the doors and start of the concert gave the audience a lot of time to get drunk and they did. It is one of the things I hugely dislike about this venue, because one never knows how these people are going to react. Surrounded by my friends, I felt I was going to be OK though and there is nothing to be done about it anyway.
Finally it was midnight and the band walked out as soon as the intro had started. This time, the first chorus of ‘Shadow Play’ was sung on stage, not off. Marko was wearing the jacket from the ‘Children of the Sun’ video, which I had commented on as being awesome earlier. I still wait for them to all appear in white dress shirts and black ties like their latest promo pictures 😀 – maybe at Christmas. 😉 It’s not about what they wear anyway – I love them just as much in jeans and plain T-Shirts than in any other clothes.
The sound was surprisingly good that night, which always seems lucky at this specific venue, even more so, because I was near the speaker on the left. Being able to hear everything clearly made the show so much more enjoyable and the lights, always perfectly matching the music created a good atmosphere. Having reached the point where I know the setlist by heart I am starting to pay more attention to what the band members always seem to do during specific songs, verifying if something I saw before is now part of the show or if it was a one-off thing. To me it seems like they are constantly trying out what works and what doesn’t and if they like it, they keep it. Watching out for little changes in the show is always entertaining. 🙂
After being dead center for the past several shows, I had been lucky to even made it to the front that night and was standing on the far left. Not a bad spot though, not at all. I love standing on Jani’s side because I never know what crazy shenanigans he is going to be up to and watching Jaska is always a treat. In fact, it is a good spot to see Jari as well as Captain and the others move around so much I usually get a close up view of each one. 😀 The stage had a metal barrier as always and not only did that serve as a footrest for Ollie’s stretching exercise, but Marko had some fun with it too from leaning over, to sitting on to humping the thing during one song. 😛
Of course the music was amazing. I loved each and every song, singing along to all of them. It has become a habit to look at my friends at certain points in the song, singing the lyrics to them. It happens at every concert, no matter who is there with me – somehow we all do it. 🙂 Quite often, the guys sing along too. I have seen Ollie or Jaska do it and from time to time, I sing with them. As for Marko, I always admire how he seems to pick just the right lyrics for everyone he sings to. No idea how he does it, but it sure is nice. This particular night he sang the key lines of ‘Everything fades’ to someone who really needed them. <3
It was a beautiful concert, just the right mixture of emotional and fun. I much enjoyed watching the band showcase each other especially during ‘Rogue’ where they give each other room to shine, both literally and metaphorically. It always amazes me just how talented they are and it makes me smile when I see them point to each other to let the audience know whose turn in the spotlight it is and whom we should be cheering to. 🙂 Seeing how they often go to check out each other’s playing it looks to me like they know very well just how good everyone in the band is. They often show appreciation with little gestures too. A nod, a smile, a pat on the back. <3
I remember early on, Jani was watching Jari, putting one foot up on the bass drum while doing so. Later, everyone was showcasing Captain. Marko, as usual was all over the stage, moving left to right, leaning out towards us, touching hands. 🙂 Whenever he jumped up and down I felt compelled to jump with him, especially when Jaska joined him too. Go to a Poets gig and get your daily exercise. 😀 During ‘The Game’ Marko motioned like he was taking a selfie and later on he played an invisible upright bass.
It got quite warm in the room and when E. picked up the fan she had brought, she waved it for Ollie too. When it was time for ‘Lift’ Jaska’s space googles made another appearance, but he did not keep them to himself. He passed them on to Jani, who in turn walked over to Captain and gave them to him. Captain wore them with pride and at the end motioned like he was going to throw them to the audience, which led to many raised hands and screams. Of course he did not do it, just smiled and shook his head. 🙂 They waved goodbye, Marko kissed Jani on the cheek, ‘Children of the sun’ was over in a second and we had to leave, already counting down the hours to the next one.
Bumped into T., S., J. and V. on the way out and chatted for a bit, said goodbye to S., H. and E. and joined D., A., E. and S. in their room for the after party. They had brought plenty of booze and yummy stuff, I threw in some baked goods and we had a great time, chatting and laughing well into the morning. It was 5 am before and of us saw their beds. What can I say? Totally worth not getting enough sleep.
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
Clearview Finland tour: 9 gigs down, 6 to go. Next stop: Anjala