I wear my sunglasses at night

Poets of the Fall – Barkino, Pori; July 15th 2010

K. and I spent the night in Orimattala at R.’s place. I was wide awake after the Savonlinna gig, but that didn’t last long and poor K. had to do all the driving through the night while I was fast asleep in the passenger seat. I don’t remember when we got there, around 3 in the morning I think. Some sleep, breakfast and on to Pori for the next show. I was especially looking forward to this gig, because I would drag my friend J. along. She had originally introduced me to Poets of the Fall, yet never seen them live. Also she had invited me to stay for the night.

We had a fun drive to Pori, even though we lost our way twice. Somewhere along the way we stopped and K. checked Facebook. Jaska had posted they were having trouble with the bus and didn’t know if they were even gonna make it to Tampere. We plotted a rescue mission, but in the end that was not necessary.

Arriving in Pori I asked K. to drop me off at the bus station, because J. lives nearby. Well, we arrived, got out of the car and I saw K. waving at someone. I was thinking “Who the heck is she waving at now?”, looked and realized Marko and Jaska were walking by – very casual in shorts and Flip Flops too. Apparently they were staying at a hotel right by the bus station. What are the odds?

I met up with J., catching up, chatting, getting some food. When we returned to her appartment we saw Captain walking by. Luckily he did not see me, I would have been a bit embarrassed being seen outside their hotel (for the second time that day).

We met up with K. at the Bar Kino around 19:30. It was raining heavily, but there was a roof so we stayed dry. M. & K. arrived soon, then S. & M. Waiting. We finally got in, took our spots in front row – more waiting. To get backstage the guys all had to walk by behind us. Ollie grinned at me as he did.

Showtime was 23:30 or something. And wow, what an audience. Loud, but not annoying. They guys clearly enjoyed it. Marko talked so much and I understood nothing, but it must have been funny. They were in such a great mood. The one thing I got was that Marko thought it was “vitun kuuma” (fucking hot) – no, really? Lots of hands action during ‘Change’ this time. We are getting better at this. 😀

Less than that there were so many adorable and funny small moments like Marko sitting down on Ollie’s chair and Ollie just sitting on his lap instead or Ollie needing a pick from Jaska and Jaska placing it on his arm and handing it over that way. <3 I certainly enjoyed the night and so did J.

We left right after the gig because J. had to get up at 5 the next morning to go to work. She was nice enough to let me sleep late. I met K. again around noon and we left for Tampere, the last station on that week’s mini tour.

Setlist?

I have no idea

pictures of this concert

Road trips, lens caps and naked swimming

Poets of the Fall – Panimoravintola Huvila, Savonlinna; July 14th 2010

After all the panic the previous week, I started an hour earlier this time around. Arrived tired, but at least not stressed out. K. picket me up at the airport and off we went to Savonlinna. A fun trip.

We had just arrived in Savonlinna and gotten out of the car, wondering how far we would have to walk to the restaurant where the concerts was supposed to take place, when the tourbus drove by. So we decided to go the same way and get tickets first. When we arrived we realized that we could not go into the restaurant to get tickets without walking right by the tourbus where the guys were unpacking. Oh well, of course we ran into Marko so I tried to tell him “No, we are not following you.” *best innocent smile* Yeah, right!

We got tickets, left, had some food, met Captain and chatted with him for a bit, went back to the restaurant. The stage was outside on the terrace, so we sat down on some chairs watching them setting up the stage and listening to the soundcheck. Marko dropped by and K. asked him something so he sat down next to me. I had K. on my left and Marko on my right, talking over my head – they were speaking Finnish and I didn’t understand anything. After a while I asked them to speak English and Marko translated for me what they had been talking about. <3 K. had asked him to play “Overboard” and he claimed that “You two have been to so many concerts, you have heard all the songs a gazillion times.”

Soon it was time to get our spots in front row. We sad down and waited for the rest of the audience to move closer. The gig was so much better than Varkaus. Effortlessly beautiful! I loved every second of it. No annoying people, just lots and lots of fun. And the guys were on fire, obviously enjoying it. It looked as if it all came easy to them . During the gig Marko kept getting on the boxes right in front of us. Way too close to take pictures, but really, really nice. All the other guys got drinks on stage, of course Marko didn’t. He asked Ollie what he had there and Ollie showed his energy drink can. Sure ;). Of course what makes this so funny is their rule of “No alcohol on stage”. Such a great mood. A woman behind us kept asking for ‘Miss Impossible’ so Marko impromptu sang a few lines then said “but that’s not the song we’ll play right now” and went into ‘Carnival of Rust’. Amazing. And the night was not over yet 🙂

After the gig we saw Ollie first. Chatted with him a bit and then got a picture taken. He talked German because there were others who spoke German. I joked I’d get them a cardboard cutout of myself for front row. He laughed at that. We met Captain next and I finally got a picture with him. K. had already spoken to Marko while I was still talking to Ollie. Then he left and when he came back K. asked him for a picture, but he didn’t wanna be disturbed so we got ready to leave. But he sat at a table with the others (minus Ollie and Jaska) and he waved to us to come, so we did. When trying to take a picture of him with K. he had to remind me to take off the lens cap. Yay me! (I think I actually said that out loud too). We talked for a bit after that which was a nice change compared to the usual quick hello and goodbye because there are so many people who want a piece of him. K. was talking to Jari and Jani and they suggested we should go swimming naked. When they translated for me they left out the naked part and K. only told me later. It became our personal running gag for the rest of the tour.

All in all an awesome night! It is unbelievable how much I love these guys. I can never make up to them all they have given me. All the great memories will remain with me, no matter what happens next.

Setlist?

I have no idea

pictures of this concert