Still the acrobat with my heart on my sleeve

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Poets of the Fall – Areena, Oulu; October 7th 2016

At 9 am this morning, after barely four hours of sleep, I was standing on Nallikari beach in Oulu with tears streaming down my face, because I could not contain all the emotions within. Yesterday was so amazing on so many levels it led to complete emotional overflow. I felt content, incredibly happy and deeply grateful for the life I lead and the people in it. As far as concert days go, this one was a close to perfect as it can be. Seeing my tour family, an emotional, lovely, funny meet & greet, an amazing concert with great energy and crowd and afterwards great conversations with S. deep into the night, drinks long forgotten at our side. Everything about the concert and the whole night reminded my of why I fell in loved with Poets of the Fall in the first place and reaffirmed everything I feel about their music, my heart so full of love and joy I don’t know how to contain it. It does not get any better than this.

It was a long but uneventful trip from Turku to Oulu on concert day. Check in, change, meet S. for tea and then off to the venue where I., H., S. and K. were already waiting. I was rather excited about my second meet & greet on this tour because I would finally have the chance to tell the guys how much I loved ‘Clearview’ and what the album meant to me. Strangely I felt more nervous about meeting them than I had in a long time. The start of the tour had been really emotional for me and reminded me of everything I love about Poets of the Fall. I’d also had a few conversations reaffirming those feelings from trying to explain to my colleague that No, I do not love one of my favorite bands more than the other to sharing with fellow fans how the new album makes me feel. Even though I love ‘Temple of Thought’ with all of my heart I don’t think I’ve felt such a rush of emotions since ‘Twilight Theater’. <3 So much has happened in the six years since and so many memories have been made. Suddenly things seemed like they had come full circle and I felt deeply connected with this band who has kept me company through good days and bad for the past eleven years. 🙂

This time the meet & greet was a little different. The guys lined up in front of a backdrop so each one of us could take a picture with the whole band. Marko always jokes with me, because I usually do not take pictures with the guys, but having all of them in one pic was a nice idea. they welcomed me with open arms and I stood right in the middle between Ollie and Captain. 🙂 Only after everyone had their picture we got to talk to them, but it didn’t feel like that took up much time at all and it’s a nice memory. I. was emotionally shaken by everything and stayed with S. or me most of the time. We hugged a lot, we all need that occasionally. <3 Talked to Nina briefly and thanked her for her work, then moved onto Ollie who asked me what it felt like to hear he songs live first. “Great! I want that all the time!”. He wanted to know my favorite songs on the album and so did Jani. since ‘The Labyrinth’ is top of the list right now, I learned that it had many different versions and they needed time before they had one that worked. I told Jaska (and Ollie) too how much I love the guitars on ‘Cealview’, Captain I asked about the cello and violin some of us heard and learned that the former is played by Jani, the latter by Marko. while I was waiting for Jari, I talked to Jani about it and he told me that it was actually an upright bass. Jari cut in joking that Apocalyptica called wanting to hire that cello player for their tour. 😀 They both feel that this is their most positive album to date. Not sure yet, but I love it. Last I got to talk to Marko and of course let him know what I thought about the album. Didn’t get a chance to go through all the details, but there will be other times on this tour. It was great to let all of them know my impression and thank them.

Once we were back in front row and more people came in I met M. whom I’ve know since my very first Poets gig, but hadn’t seen in a long time. We chatted a bit, but she was just recovering from pneumonia and hardly had a voice. Waiting, taking deep breaths, feeling emotional and most of all happy. How wonderful life is if I can have days lie this one. 🙂 Softengine played and were in a much better mood than in Turku. Still not my thing, but I politely clapped along and after they got the audience going a bit, they seemed happy enough. I like their energy and stage presence, I’m sure they can make something of it, but their music does not speak to me. There will be other bands as the tour goes on.

Finally, the intro started, again without any lights like in Turku. It’s somewhat mysterious still to hear Marko’s voice from the off, but the real shadow play like they did it in Helsinki had a much stronger effect. Once the band entered the stage they were greeted with loud screams. The audience already sounded enthusiastic. 😀 I somewhat know the setlist now and my sing-along on the new songs is getting better, even though it’s still sketchy. At least I have the choruses down. 🙂 After two concerts without, I had my camera again, trying to capture everything. It didn’t take anything away from the music though and I loved alternating between taking pictures and resting the camera to just have fun. There was a lot of space to jump for me too and it came in handy when some drunk people tried to squeeze in – they left because I might have accidentally jumped on their feet. When I can’t move with the music it does not feel right and I even had the impression the guys were checking on me at times to see if I was doing it. 😀

With all the reminiscing I had done since Helsinki and feeling so strongly about the album I had expected tears again and I did choke up several times, but once again the music made me so happy, all I could do was smile. The whole concert was a blur of happiness and wonder and so much love for the band, the music and my friends by my side. From time to time we looked at each other and smiled. Everyone in the room seemed to feel the good vibes, band and audience looked happy.

The drum and keyboard riser in the back proved t be popular places. It seemed liked the whole band had decided to visit Jari and Captain frequently. I even remember Jaska grabbing a drumstick at one point and playing with Jari. Later, towards the end of the show, Ollie and Jaska were standing with Captain while Jani was by Jari’s side until Jaska waved him over and with one long step/jump he joined them. Captain almost disappeared behind them. It put a big smile on my face to watch them standing together, raising their guitars and bass. It also kept me so occupied that I don’t have the slightest idea what Marko was doing at that time. 😀

Overall it was a powerful show with the guys hardly ever standing still. It was contagious, I was moving most of the time as well. It felt like they had now fully settled into the setlist and the new tour with the new songs having their established places and the audience greeting them as loudly as the old ones. 🙂 The stage was a little smaller, lower and closer to the audience than at the other gigs, especially compared to the first one. It felt a lot more intimate and club gig like. 🙂 Of course the whole show was over before it began. It is still a mystery to me how 90 minutes can feel so short. ‘Drama for Life’ had hardly rung out when ‘Children of the Sun’ begun. The guys bowed to us before the last song as we cheered for each of them. In the end they took a picture with us and thy were gone. None of us wanted to leave, especially knowing that this was it for a few weeks now.

We hung out, hugged, talked and decided that 48 days to the cruise aren’t that long after all. M. said goodbye, I., H., K. and S. had a ride to their respective hotels/homes and S. and I walked back. We thought it would seem longer than getting there, but it felt good to move. We decided to have a drink and really only had one, but still talked until three in the morning. 🙂 The night could not have ended any better.

Setlist:

Intro: Shadow Play
Drama for Life
Daze
The Child in Me
Dreaming Wide Awake
Diamonds for Tears
The Game
Stay
Someone Special
Sleep
Running Out of Time
Once Upon a Playground Rainy
Locking Up the Sun
Carnival of Rust

Encore
War
Lift
Children of the Sun

pictures of this concert

Clearview tour 2016/17: 4 gigs down, 19 to go, next stop: MS Baltic Princess

Old friends, new fans and great conversations

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Poets of the Fall – Logomo, Turku; October 5th 2016

Still feeling slightly overwhelmed by three Poets of the Fall concerts in less than a week, I look back on the gig in Turku and smile. I’m a little bit tired (more than I should be), a little emotional, but mostly happy. It’s all about balance in the end and the Turku experience as a whole had a good portion of everything I love about touring: a fun concert, very little stress regarding getting there and getting a good spot and the important ingredient of friends to share it with. After all these years I still feel the rush as soon as the band walks on stage, the emotional high that brings on my “gig face” immortalized in way too many pictures and the way my sense of time completely goes out the window and I just live from moment to moment. This is what I got hooked on originally and it is what keeps me coming back. Nothing else compares to this feeling.

Almost as much as the concert itself I enjoy being with my “tour family”, the people I’ve met on the road and bonded with though countless shared memories. The members of this family come and go, some having been around long before my arrival, some having come long after, some only there for a short but intense stay, some for good. It’s an ever growing, ever changing living organism brought together by the band we all love. Like any family we are not perfect, but we are in this together so we do our best to get along and help each other. There is love amongst us, but there are also misunderstandings at times. There are family members who are dear friends and others who are more like distant relatives. We are all different in age, background, character, country of origin and many other ways, yet we all found something in the music that attracts us, that keeps us coming back for more.
Each one of us reacts to the emotional roller coaster in a different way. Some of us get withdrawn and quiet before or after the concert, others turn into overly excited chatterboxes, some jump and dance and yell and scream during the show, while other just stand there watching almost as if they were in a trance. The important part is that we all enjoy what we are doing. 🙂

So here I was, after smooth travel all the way, arriving at the venue just before the meet & greet people got in. As expected, I., O., A. and S. were at the front of the line. We hugged hello, chatted a little and in they went. The regular ticket line was short, I joined them and waited. Soon after K. and N. arrived. I had met N. briefly in Helsinki and had not seem K. in ages. We chatted, passing the time until the doors opened for us. There was much confusion when we got in because the venue is huge and there weren’t any signs to guide us. After asking we found the right door, waited some more. Once the meet & greet was over, I joined my friends at the center, opting for second row this time instead of being front row on the side. Let the fun begin!

First up were Softengine though and even the third time around they still do not work for me. They clearly know what they are doing and have good energy, but somehow thy do not manage to move me at all. This time around they didn’t manage to get the audience going either. At the first two gigs they had at least some fans there and others politely went along, but this time their efforts fell flat. Then, it clearly showed they were annoyed with the fact which made it worse. Too much attitude for my liking. Towards the end of their gig there was a little accident with a piece of equipment (some monitor maybe?) that the singer stepped on so often it finally went sailing off stage and crashed down in front. They left the stage without even finishing the last song and the crew was busy setting everything up again. I have no idea if the equipment even functioned properly after that, but apparently it was still OK.

Even shortly before Poets of the Fall were about to start the venue hadn’t quite filled up. It was an OK sized crowd, but there could have been more. K. waved to me from the seats in the back where she was with a friend. Deep breath, earplugs in and ready to go. Like the last time I was without my camera, ready to jump and dance with the music. This time the ‘Shadow Play’ intro was just played without anyone on stage and everything still in darkness so I guess Marko bathed in blue light was just a special thing for the first shows. As the lights went on the guys launched into ‘Drama for Life’. Take off into singing along, dancing and looking back and forth between the guys trying not to miss anything.

This time around I didn’t cry, but must have had a huge smile on my face all the way through. Emotions came surging through me in waves: happiness, amazement, wonder, gratefulness, love. It was beautiful. Still not remembering the lyrics to the new songs fully I did the best I could and smiled even more every time I got it right. The words to these songs and the images that come with them are amazing. They guys looked happy too, spent a lot of time playing together, visiting each other on stage. I took a lot of pictures with my mind and a few with my phone too. 🙂

Somehow I was too busy this time to ever look behind me. I have no feel for the audience at all. They were there, I felt them, but not as powerfully as I had in Tampere or Helsinki. It was more of an inward concert for me, lots of things going on in my head and in my heart. I loved it though, loved seeing the guys smile, loved the music, loved the moment when Marko leaned out to shake hands and I stretched because I just had to be part of that. We sang together and I sang for myself, the guys created magic with their instruments, the music swept anyone away who allowed it to happen. You had to be there to understand.

Strangely, specific memories escape me, being somewhat dazed all the way through, but the concert left me with a happy feeling and I was grateful to have been there. We gathered outside after the show, some of us happy-chatty, some to emotional to speak. A., O. and N. said goodbye, wanting to be alone, needing sleep, having to work the next day. The rest of us decided to go out, dragging along M. who had come from the US and took the chance to see his first gig as part of his travels in Finland. We found a quiet bar, had drinks, talked, joked, laughed and finally said goodbye with hugs. S. and I had the same hotel, K. had time to kill before her bus went so I gave her shelter in my room. It’s great to have her back after a long break in Poets fandom. 😀 At the end of the night I dropped into bed and slept like a stone. The next morning brought a late and extended breakfast with S. Great conversations happened and both of us wanted the next concert right away. A one day break seemed survivable though, if barely. 😉 It was fun seeing you all, we’ll meet again some other place and time. 🙂

Setlist:

Intro: Shadow Play
Drama for Life
Daze
The Child in Me
Dreaming Wide Awake
Diamonds for Tears
The Game
Stay
Someone Special
Sleep
Running Out of Time
Once Upon a Playground Rainy
Locking Up the Sun
Carnival of Rust

Encore:
War
Lift
Children of the Sun

Clearview tour 2016/17: 3 gigs down, 20 to go, next stop: Oulu