“Because if you break stuff, like rules for one thing, you can make new rules”

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Poets of the Fall – Arena, Moscow; March 24th, 2012

After a long a pretty much sleepless night we arrived in snowy Moscow. The number of fans waiting at the station was just overwhelming. I didn’t count, but I know there were more people than the previous day. I said hello to my friend L. and received a beautiful gift: An Alan Wake inspired drawing. <3 Less than that I watched and left most of the guys alone, only spoke to Jani for a while. We joked about looking tired and both wearing our sunglasses.

There was a little time to check in to my hotel. finally take a shower and relax for a bit before meeting my friends again. We arrived at the Arena before 2 p.m., ready for a long wait. I don’t know how many layers of clothes I was wearing, but the icy wind cut through all of them . *shudders* Luckily there was a cafe nearby and we could take turns going there to warm up. Many hours later they ushered us away from the doors and se up railings. Unfortunately it wasn’t very well organized and of course they did not tell us right away where exactly they would let us in. Also the way to the door went up a slight slope and was completely covered in ice. So with a railing and a security guard in front of me, people pushing from behind and icy pavement to walk up I was scared of the moment they opened the doors and rightfully so. It was a big mess, people trying to go up the slope, holding on to ach other, almost pulling each other down and everyone pushing form all sides to get through the small door. I was just happy I made it inside without falling down. Once there, I ignored all orders (I don’t speak Russian, but I know they wanted me to go and hand in my jacket) and just ran in.  Made it to the front next to my friend A., but had lost N. on the way so she ended up standing behind us, even though she was inside before I was. 🙁

The place filled up quickly and I barely made it out of my multiple layers of jackets before there was so much pressure from behind that I could not really move any more. Luckily I had some food in me so there was no danger of fainting, but it was quit uncomfortable for a while. Eventually the crowd relaxed a bit and I could breathe again. Passed the time putting up my “Prowlers of the Fall” banner and chatting with A.

Around 8 p.m. lots of photographers took their spots and I knew the wait would be over soon. I briefly met O. (from the Poets’ German partner label) but didn’t really have the chance to exchange more than a few words.
The lights were out and the room was charged with excitement. The noise level was already unbelieveable and reached a new high when he intro started and the guys walked on stage one by one. I had no idea I was even capable of screaming that loudly, but apparently I was. I looked at my friends and their happy smiles said it all. All troubles forgotten, only the here and now counted.

The audience was loud and wild and excited from the very first moment on. ‘Kamikaze Love’ rocked the house. Even though the song is catchy, I had never expected it to work so well live. What a pleasant surprise. 🙂 The fans had given out playing cards to the first few rows and we tried throwing them on stage. The distance was too wide though and many landed on the floor. Of those few that actually landed on stage, Marko picked up a few and posed with them for the photographers.

Being front row again felt so much better, even though I could not breath at times, because everyone from behind me seemed to be pushing forward. I still managed to jump around though. There was absolutely nothing that could have spoiled the fun I was having.

‘Diamonds for Tears’ had everyone clapping along and ‘Temple of Thought’ was just lovely. So many beautiful layers of music entwined. Marko laid down on stage for a while, singing with his eyes closed. He got back up,  had us all waving our arms – it must have looked great from stage. Ollie was so lost in his solo, truly a guitar hero. I really could not decide whom to watch.

During ‘Roses’ Marko was handing out chewing gum and managed to to even unwrap a piece for himself and stick it in his mouth without missing a beat. He was also singing to one of the stage lights which seemed to amuse Ollie. The guys were all smiling a lot, except for Jari, who just seemed totally concentrated on his drumming.

I tried watching everyone which was a bit difficult with the big stage, but again I had a great view of Ollie and Captain who were on my side and Jani whenever he came over. I exchanged smiled with all of them at times, watching how they got more and more relaxed during the gig. It must have been amazing (and probably just a little scary) to play for such a huge audience.

There were a lots of lighters, cellphones, hands and even sparklers up in the air for ‘Cradled in Love’. The atmosphere was beautiful and the song gave us a last chance to rest before rocking out to ‘Locking up the Sun’. I was jumping around as much as possible and people around me just had to jump as well – there was no other way. When it was over, Marko declared “This is the best job in the world people and it’s all thanks to you!” ‘War’ followed, another one of the songs I can never get enough of. It’s just brilliant.

‘The Lie eternal’ brought another R-reated performance that led to a lot of excited screams from the female part of the audience. 😉 Me? I was laughing. 😛 Don’t get me wrong though, I absolutely love this song and think it is perfect for being performed live!

A little time travel to 2005 followed with ‘Stay’ and Marko wished for a cat walk to get closer to the people in the back. Beautiful guitar playing, great drumming and much audience participation, singing of “The little things that make the world”. We stayed in 2005 for ‘Illusion & Dream’ before moving on with ‘Gravity’ – everyone jumped as instructed. Fun!

All the guys played brilliantly that night and time went by in a heartbeat again. I watched, I listened to the different instruments, I enjoyed to see the guys smile, goof off, have fun, enjoying their performance. They gave us ‘Late Goodbye’ as a parting gift and left the stage. <3

While Einari was setting up chairs for the acoustic set the entire audience was clapping and screaming wildly to call the guys back to the stage. They did not let us wait for long. Jani had stolen the top hat again – it suits him well. ‘Sorry go round’ was once again amazing. It’s unbelievable what these guys can do on acoustic guitars. I would not mind more acoustic numbers at all. It came as a nice surprise when they added a second one. ‘Someone special’ which they had not played in six years and I had never heard live before. <3

After the set, it was time for Captain and Jari to return to the stage. Marko wondered what he could build with the chairs, but Einari took them away.  “They are afraid I’ll break stuff. Because that’s what I do, I break stuff. Because if you break stuff, like rules for one thing, you can make new rules, better rules, rules that fit you – but I guess that’s just dreamin’.” With this they went right into ‘Dreaming wide awake’. So much energy!

As ‘Carnival of Rust’ started. A. took my hand and we were just swaying from side to side with the music. <3 In awe I listened to the song that never fails to move me. But there was no chance to feel melancholia, because ‘Lift’ catapulted me right out of that. Jumping, screaming, singing along, watching Ollie and Jaska dueling with their guitars, Jaska playing while laying on his back in the end and Marko stripping off his shirt. A great ending to a great show!

After the gig Ollie, Jani, Jaska and Marko came out to sign autographs. I had the chance to exchange smiles and a few words with all of them and got a group hug from Marko together with my friends. I was stuck in front row, just watching people around me. The crew had fun folding setlists into airplanes and throwing them at us as they had already done the previous night.

Once again it was over too soon. We gathered our belongings and left, hugged each other for the last time and said goodbye. When I arrived at my hotel I was beat, but the happy memories made it all worthwile.

Two concerts down, many to go. Next stop: Kiev

Setlist

Kamikaze Love
Diamonds for Tears
Temple of Thought
Roses
Cradled in Love
Locking up the Sun
War
The Lie Eternal
Stay
Illusion & Dream
Gravity
Late Goodbye

Acoustic:
Sorry Go Round (Bossa Nova)
Someone special

Encore:
Dreaming wide awake
Carnival of Rust
Lift

“Time flies when you’re having fun!”

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Poets of the Fall – Glav Club, St. Petersburg; March 23rd, 2012

Pre gig excitement didn’t catch up with me until CD release day. Of course I had the album already in digital format, but I still could not wait to hold it in my hands and was hoping I would get it on time. No such luck, but the buzz the album created everywhere just made me smile. I think ‘Temple of Though’ is their best work to date and I loved reading all the positive comments. All of a sudden I realized that in only two days I would attend the first gig of the tour and I felt a surge of happiness running through me – finally. That was a long time coming.

Could not sleep much due to all the excitement I felt and was off to St. Petersburg early in the morning of March 22nd. It was a long trip and when I finally was settled in my hotel room in St. Petersburg at 8 p.m. local time, all I wanted to do was sleep and did so soon.

The next morning was spent relaxing until it was time to meet my friend N. at the Moscow train station. We had lunch, then went to the Finlandia train station to meet with more friends and wait for the Poets to arrive. This has become a tradition and there are more and more people every year. This time there were around 3o.
As always, I was a bit nervous about meeting the guys again and stayed in the back because I did not want to be too much of a bother. They stepped out of the train and Jani, Captain and Jari were immediately ushered to a waiting car by some security guy. I barely had a chance to say hello. Ollie, Marko and Jaska were surrounded by fans. I waited, hoping for a chance to at least exchange smiles with them. Ollie saw me and hugged me. We even chatted a little until we were interrupted by other fans. Marko hugged me too. We didn’t have time for many words, but that really wasn’t necessary. 🙂 I thanked both of them for the album and the chance to review it.

Back to the Moscow train station and on to the club from there. It was cold in St. Petersburg and we were in for a long wait. They didn’t open the doors on time and it got really crowded before they let us in. Admittance as a whole was terrible this year and only two of us made it to the front row, even though we had been among the first ten people there. Oh well, I ended up in row 3 behind N. and A. and decided not to let that spoil the night for me.

Waiting and wondering what the night might bring. Since the album is so emotional for me, I was a little bit afraid of hearing these songs live. I just had no idea what that would do to me. Not matter what, I would have to live through it now.

Finally the stage was set up, the lights down, photographer’s in place and the music started. New tour, new intro, I didn’t recognized the song right away, watched in awe as they walked on stage, screamed and clapped like everyone else, smiled when I saw that Marko still had the top hat and feather boa outfit from the past fall.

Before doing anything else he asked us to scream for him and everyone responded. When he started singing I finally recognized the song: ‘Kamikaze Love’. I had expected ‘Running out of Time’ as the starting point, but I hardly ever guess correctly when it comes to these guys. They are just full of surprises.

The song worked quite well live and the audience went nuts. A promising start. ‘Diamonds for Tears’ was next and sent the crowd into a new frenzy. Still it took me some time to get into he right mood and feel the usual thrill of the gig. Meanwhile I was watching the Poets, the people around me and the photographers walking back and forth in front of the stage trying to keep up with Marko or get a good shot of the others. I had a great view of Captain and Ollie from where I stood and I enjoyed watching them.

The first chills came with ‘Temple of Thought’. It is such an amazing song and came across beautifully. The Russian fans had prepared white, glow in the dark gloves with morphos on them and we all put them on, waving. I wondered what that might look like from stage to see all these hands up in the air. Marko reached out to shake hands with people, but it was difficult to bridge the distance between front row and the stage.

‘Roses’ staying in the setlist from the previous tour really made me happy. I love this song  and it was beautiful hearing it again. I had fun watching Captain who first kept throwing his towel in the air and catching it once again and then wandered off across stage, having to hurry back to the keyboards when it was time for him to play. He looked like he enjoyed being back on stage.

Ollie sat down for ‘Cradled in Love’, making the beautiful melody come alive. It was such a joy watching him play, so concentrated and lost in the music. Marko asked us to hold up lighters or cellphones with lights. Lots of hands went up and even the singing along sounded pretty good. The atmosphere was beautiful, especially when people started blowing soap bubbles. That added a nice touch.

“Are you ready to rock?” Marko screamed and with the first riffs of  ‘Locking up the sun’ we screamed back. It was time to sing along at the top of my lungs and jump about in tune with the music. Jani had put on the top hat and came over to our side of the stage to play right in front of us. Just great. Ollie was working his guitar like crazy and making faces while doing it. Watching them work was so much fun! Marko received a flower that he stuck behind his ear. 🙂 More great guitar work from Ollie during ‘War’. He was on fire. Jaska sounded great too, but I could not see much of him all night. Same with Jari.

‘The Lie eternal’ was just as great live as I had hoped for it to be. The entire song is so charged with unfulfilled desire it’s almost painful to listen to. Marko brought this across quite well, his singing and performance underlining the mood. It all worked nicely until he decided to stick his hand down the front of his pants and I just cracked up laughing. Really, I don’t find that sexy, to me it’s just silly. Made me want to ask if he had lost something down there.

Back to calmer songs with ‘Stay’ and another great sing-along for the audience. Before the next song, Marko stripped off his vest and the necklace he was wearing. Hat and feather boa had gone long since. From time to time he was blowing some feathers into the audience, always to great cheers. As usual ‘Illusion and Dream’ was a highlight for me. I never get tired of hearing it, of singing “dishonesty” or of everyone raising their glasses or bottles and toasting to us. I love Jari’s drumming on this one and this time, Captain was air drumming along with him. Watching him I realized how little of him I generally see during a gig.

‘Gravity’ had everyone rocking again. I had not heard that one in quite some time and was happy to see it back on the setlist. Just amazing! “Time flies when you’re having fun!” Marko claimed and I could not believe when they started ‘Late Goodbye’. What? Almost over already? It felt as if they had just started. Marko sat down on one of the monitors for a while and caught soap bubbles that people were blowing. It was amazing to watch Ollie make his guitar sing  during the solo, but it made me feel a little sad to watch the guys walk off stage. This had felt so short.

They came back and played ‘Sorry go round’ in the bossa nova version. 😀 Captain was standing side stage, taking pictures and Marko tried his Shakira movements again. 😉 He then instructed us to clap first with one finger, then two, three and four and finally with the whole hand. It worked well. Of course “the candyman can!” While Ollie was playing a solo, Marko hopped off stage to shake hands with people. Nice.

‘Dreaming wide awake’ was just great, with everyone singing and screaming again, then a deep breath for ‘Carnival of Rust’ that started with the ‘The one I love’ intro. Wonderful. The top hat had been passed on from Jani to Ollie. The song rang out beautifully and went straight into ‘Lift’ for a last chance to jump and go crazy. The hat moved on to Captain and then to Jaska. Everyone was obviously having fun. 🙂

The last notes rang out and it was over. Too quickly. People screamed so much that for a moment I thought they might come back out, but they did not. It was amazing, but felt like all of 5 minutes. Strange. I had been hoping for more songs off the new album, but still loved everything they played.

One more memorable moment was Marko singing part of ‘The Happy Song’ and everyone singing along with him, but after a few lines he just stopped, grinned and said “That was fun!” I would have loved to hear all of it. 🙂

It did not take long for them to come out for autographs and it was crazier than in previous years. So much screaming. I didn’t really get a chance to talk to any of them, just watched the show. Marko stayed on stage for a while, but finally decided to come down. Ollie, Jani and Jaska came out too and they all stayed for a long time. Before Marko left he took a calculated look at the already screaming girls in front of the stage and then lifted his shirt. The reaction was just as expected – more screams. Funny.

It was time for us to leave, get some food and water, chat and wait for our train. It left well after midnight and surprisingly the guys were on the same one. Before we boarded, I finally had a chance to talk to Captain and thank him. He totally surprised me by giving me a hug. That was really sweet. 🙂 We chatted with him and Ollie for a while before we all got on the train and retreated to our respective compartments. N. and I chatted until we felt too tired to stay awake any longer.

One concert down, many to go. Next stop: Moscow

Setlist

Kamikaze Love
Diamonds for Tears
Temple of Thought
Roses
Cradled in Love
Locking up the Sun
War
The Lie Eternal
Stay
Illusion & Dream
Gravity
Late Goodbye

Encore:
Sorry Go Round (Bossa Nova)
Dreaming wide awake
Carnival of Rust
Lift