Poets of the Fall – Virgin Oil, Helsinki; April 30th 2010
Once again it was time for a gig in Finland, once again at the Vrgin Oil where I had last seen Poets of the Fall in September 2008. Actually there should have been two more gigs for me between the last one and this, but Eyjafjallajoekull kept me from getting to Seinäjoki and the week after, the gigs were cancelled, because Marko had started singing again too soon after recovering from laryngitis and again lost his voice.
I was torn between wanting to see this concert and hoping it would not happen, because I felt Marko needed more time to get well. Imagine the relief I felt when I received a text message from my friend C. in the morning that everything was OK and they would play that night. Consdering I had just spent well over 30 hours on a ferry to get there (take that vulcano!) I could not have been happier at hearing the news.
Taking the ferry was a strange if nice experience. Got on there at about midnight, shared the cabin with a nice Finnish lady, went to bed about 2 am and slept until noon. The day at sea was nice and I had time for some reading. I have missed that lately. Unfortunately it was a bit too windy and cold to stay on deck for long. Yet there was a sauna on board and I didn’t need more for my happiness. 😀
After arrival I made my way to my friend I.’s place, left my luggage and went back downtown to meet N. and O. from Russia at the train station. I had lunch with them before retuning to my freind’s place for some rest. Back downtown later and to kauppatori to see the students “crown” Havis Amanda as it is tradition on vappu aato. It was fun – lots of drunk people going crazy. Went back to the Virgin Oil and bumped into Jari. I asked him to get a Twilight Theater booklet signed by everyone as a late birthday present for a friend. He pomised I’d get it back after the show and took it in with him.
Hung out at the bar with N. and O., finally lined up and got in at 22:00. I chose a spot on the right, in front of Jaska, because I wanted to take some pictures of Captain for a change. Another hour until showtime.
Phoenix Effect rocked the house and Anton kept smiling at me. After the gig he came to me and gave me two of his solo CDs – one for B. and one for me. Not signed, so I’ll have to ask him for that next time guess, hopefully soon. The CD made me so happy. It is very melancholic and sad, but very beautiful music.
The Poets kept us waiting until quite some time after midnight. It was well worth the wait though – totally awesome and powerful gig. Since it was Vappu, Ollie and Jani were wearing funny sunglasses and Captain kept blowing streamers 😀 At one point Marko was squatting to my left, listening to Ollie’s solo and suddenly he realized I was there, smiled and just said “hi”. Made me smile. During ‘15 Minute Flame’ he squatted down in front of N., looking at her and holding the mic to her. It was a bit weird because there was not exactly anything to sing at that point. She didn’t know what to do and pushed the mic away. He started laughing, then tousled her hair. Such a wonderful and sweet moment.
The setlist was still the shorter one, but they really got into it and the audience was pretty good as well. It made me so happy to be there and just watch the guys doing what they do best. As usual it was over in a heartbeat, but left a big smile on my face.
At the end, Marko was half off stage already, he came running back to shake N.’s and my hands. Even better was Captain though. I reached out when he walked off stage and he actually came back and shook my hand too. I totally had not expected him to do that. Sweet.
Afterwards there was a long wait for the booklet. I chatted with Janne (Phoenix Effect) briefly, finally asked Jani if I had been forgotten. “No, he will bring it to you.” Sortly after that Jani brought me the booklet. What I didn’t notice then was that Jaska’s signature was missing. I guess that’s why it had taken so long. Had I seen it right away I would have hunted him down for it. He was still at the club.
We got home on the nightbus, arriving at 3:15, way to wound up. Thus we checked pictures, chatted and had fun until it was suddenly 6:00 and I realized we would need to get up again in 5 hours because we were expecting a guest for brunch. We got some sleep, but pretty much looked like zombies the next day. Still had a good brunch before I had to return to the ship.
Spent a lot of time sleeping and watching movies on the way back. Arriving in Travemünde in the evening was not so good though, because I had a long trip home ahead of me. Met a nice French guy at the port in Travemünde and ended up on the same train. He was good company on an exhausting trip. We talked about music and I spontaneously gave him “Signs of Life”. He asked me to sign it so I wrote. “Sometimes great music comes to you in mysterious ways. Enjoy!”
Finally made it home at 5:00, took a shower and went straight to work on barely two hours of sleep. I survived though and it was totally worth it!!
Setlist
Dreaming Wide Awake
Smoke And Mirrors
Diamonds for Tears
War
Given And Denied
Dying To Live
You’re Still Here
Illusion & Dream
15 Min Flame
Rewind
Change
Locking Up the Sun
Lift
Encore:
Carnival of Rust