Fictitious, yet so real…

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Poets of the Fall – cruise on MS Viking Grace, March 16th 2013

The concert on the MS Viking Grace was once again proof that all is well that ends well. In the week prior to the concert I had the feeling that the universe was against me being there. Bad weather, delayed planes, strike at Düsseldorf airport. I ended up going all the way to Berlin to fly from there. It was one hell of a long trip, but I finally made it and was much rewarded. I would not have wanted to miss this for the world. 🙂

Not only was there a concert to go to that night, but I was also lucky enough to have been granted an interview. Being allowed to interview my favorite band was surely a dream come true, but I do admit it made me just a little bit nervous too. I was supposed to be there for soundcheck so I went to the club directly after boarding. Everyone around was busy setting up and setting stuff. Said hello to Petri, gave Jaska a late birthday present and watched the guys at work. To my surprise Anton from Phoenix Effect sat behind the drums, replacing Jari for the night. Marko came over to ask if we should do the interview right away, but it was too loud with the others being on stage tuning and checking their instruments, so we decided we’d do the interview afterwards. Thus I got to watch soundcheck too before Marko sat down with me for 20 minutes. Needless to say the interview alone made it all worthwhile. 🙂

The Club was nice with an unusually big stage for a ship. The guys actually had room to move. As usual it was quite a long wait and well after 0:30 a.m. before they started, but we were much rewarded. The guys put on a top show. 😀 During soundcheck there had been a few times where I had trouble hearing Marko sing so I fully expected the usual not-optimal sound in front row. Imagine my surprise when Marko started singing ‘Delicious’ and every word could be clearly heard. Until that moment I hadn’t thought it was possible to be any happier. 😀

“Are you ready to rock?” (or something along those lines) Marko asked and the audience responded with a scream. Sure we were, even if we might have been dead tired ten minutes ago. ‘Locking up the sun’ never fails to make me happy. It also never fails to get me jumping and when I looked at my friends by my side I saw they shared the same feelings. This was already going great.

The stage was a bit too high to take pictures, especially with the railing it had, but I still managed to get a good shot once in a while. Sure, I could have given up my spot in front row and gone upstairs like any professional photographer would have done, but would I ever? No way, I enjoyed the spot I was in way too much! Now usually I wear earplugs during concerts, but forgot all about them this time. Therefore it was a bit louder than usual, but not only the sound blew me away that night. The entire performance was brilliant. Anton did a great job behind the drums, his smile indicating how much he enjoyed it. Captain watched over everything, smiling, getting lost in the music from time to time. Jani, Jaska and Ollie were on the move, all three of them showing off their skills and solos. Marko? He was his usual crazy self, back to top form and hardly ever standing still for more than a moment.

I wish I could remember all the little moments that made me smile that night, all the times I shared looks with my friend or one of the guys, all the happy faces on stage and in front. I remember all the guys smiled at me at one point or another, I remember Marko singing to me during ‘Kamikaze Love’ and to my friend H. during ‘Jeremiah Peacekeeper’. I remember Ollie, Jani and Jaska jumping off of the drum platform and watching fast fingers play guitar. I remember thinking “They looks so happy, they are having a great time” and time flying way too fast. I also remember singing along at the top of my lungs until my voice was hoarse, especially during ‘Don’t mess with me’ and ‘Everything fades’. It was a fun, wonderful and brilliant show. These guys really never cease to amaze me. Pure happiness means attending a Poets of the Fall concert. 😀

After the show my friend and I hung out, had a very late dinner (or maybe a really early breakfast), a drink and chatted well into the night before feeling tired. The next day greeted us with beautiful (yet cold) weather and some of us did spend some time on deck (to watch the sea and later the beautiful sunset). On Sunday evening we arrived in Turku and it was time to say goodbye to C., B. and H. – see you soon! While driving to A.’s place, where I would stay for the next few days we saw Northern Lights in the sky above. They are pretty rare in southern Finland and this was the first time I’ve ever seen them. If that’s not a good sign for the rest of this trip I don’t know what is. 🙂

Poets of the Fall 10th anniversary tour – 2 gigs down, so far 8 to go. Next stop: St. Petersburg

Setlist

Delicious
Lockig up the sun
Kamikaze Love
Jeremiah Peacekeeper
Given and denied
Don’t mess with me
Temple of Thought
Everything fades
Cradled in Love
Stay
Running out of time
Illusion & Dream
Diamonds for tears
Late Godbye

Encore
Sleep
Dreaming wide awake
Carnival of Rust
Lift

pictures of this concert

What are we made of?

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The Killers – Cologne, Kölnarena; March 7th, 2013

The Killers had been quiet for a few years and when their newest album came out, I immediately checked for tourdates. I had not forgotten how much fun the last concert had been. I left work early and went to Cologne. There were surprisingly few people waiting outside the Kölnarena and everyone who came later lined up politely behind the ones that had already been waiting. Wow! Nice! They let us in at 6 p.m. and I painlessly made it to front row, on the far right. I had an OK view from there and remembering all that pogoing at the center last time I thought I’d better have a railing in front of me than being a few rows back in the middle of the crowd. Later that night I realized I might have enjoyed the concert more if I’d been closer to the center, but it was too late then.

Either way, everything was very relaxed, people were sitting down for a long time so I felt quite fine when support act Louis XIV started at 8 p.m. The people around me were nice too. It would be a good evening. Louis XIV were not much to write home about. OK to pass the time, but nothing special. I was quite bored with them, but at least they were not annoying. 🙂 The audience was pretty good, clapping along.

There was a 45 minute break between their set and the band we had all come for. The stage backdrop lit up to great cheers and The Killers walked on stage with the hall lights still on, starting with ‘Mr. Brightside’. It was a bit surreal to see them play already, not quite what I had expected. The audience didn’t mind though and sang along loudly. By the second song the center of the hall was dancing and jumping, but on the side people were more subdued and I wondered briefly if I should have gone in the middle of the crowd after all, forgot everything and danced with them. Soon, however, they played ‘Spaceman’ and I forgot all about that, sang along, danced, had fun.

The setlist was a good selection of old and new. I didn’t recognize all songs, hadn’t listened to them in a long time, but I enjoyed the general vide and the happy faces around me. Brandon interacted with the audience and got everyone to sing along. Before “Flesh and Bone” he asked us “Whht are you made of?” and got the expected response on second try. There were a few  more fun sing along parts too. In front of the stage there was a lower part, a runway of sorts that both Brandon and guitarist Dave walked along at times. I was happy to see tem up close and also enjoyed watching bassist Mark on my side. Drummer Ronnie as well as the keyboarder and rhythm guitarist remained in the back.

The band made great use of lights, the screen in the back of the stage and pyrotechnics too. It was a fun show overall and I got many of the hits I wanted to hear like ‘Human’, ‘Dustland Fairytale’, ‘Spaceman’ or ‘Somebody told me’. When the main set ended with ‘All these things that I’ve done’, lots of confetti in the shape of red Ks and silver flashes dropped from the ceiling. It looked like colorful snowflakes. 😀 During the encores, Brandon walked of the stage down to front row to shake hands. Such a nice gesture. After 90 minutes it was over, a bit to soon for me. Otherwise though, there is absolutely nothing to complain about. An entertaining evening with good music.

Setlist

Mr. Brightside
The Way It Was
Smile Like You Mean It
Spaceman
Bones
Miss Atomic Bomb
Human
Somebody told me
Flesh and Bone
For Reasons unknown
From here on out
A Dustland Fairytale
Read my Mind
Runaways
All these things that I’ve done

Encore:
Jenny was a friend of mie
When we were young
Battle Born