In the space between thought and wonder

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Poets of the Fall – Rock City, Nottingham; May 7th, 2022

Seeing Poets of the Fall play live again has been everything I had hoped for and Nottingham was the highlight of the tour so far. Absolutely everything fit and you could not wipe that happy smile off of my face if you tried. It feels so good to be back!

I woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Manchester, had some great breakfast, sat in a park for a while and left for Nottingham in the early afternoon. The apartment I had rented for the night was beautiful and, more importantly, a short walk away from the venue. Had some food, relaxed a bit and arrived at Rock City around 4:30 to see the usual suspects already in line. We chatted and waited. Entry went smoothly, starting 6:30 on the dot and I scored the perfect spot at the front, just to the right of Marko’s mic. the venue has a high ceiling and was well air conditioned so for the first time I dared to take of my mask for the show. It made a difference.

The venue filled up quickly and my excitement grew, closer to showtime. First up was Tom Lumley & the Brave Liaison, the same band as in Manchester. I had enjoyed their set then, but this night it was even better. They made great use of the stage, jumped around, stepped over to the barrier to play closer to us and all the while looked so happy. They told us it was a dream of theirs to play this venue. They had so much fun and we did too. I took some cool pictures as well. In one of them the lights looked as if a ghost was rising fro the drums – how fitting. 😀 Can’t tell you which of their songs I like best, but certainly enjoyed their set. Happy to get another one tomorrow.

Setlist

Modern Age
Anchor
Shrink
Haunted
Say nothing
Casual
Fake Friends
Crawling

When we had walked in, the microphone was further to my left, but I remembered from Manchester that the crew moved it to the right, once the stage was changed and I was suddenly so much closer. 😀 Resetting of the stage went quickly and very soon we wer ready for Poets of the Fall. My anticipation grew. By now, I know what o expect and was back in full tour mode, loving everything about it.

The lights went down and the long, beautiful intro to ‘Requiem for my Harlequin’ started. One by one, the band stepped on stage and I screamed, along with everyone else. Even after being on tour again for a while now, it’s still somehow unfamiliar to me, like a muscle I didn’t train enough for the past two years. And yet, looking at them playing to the crowd, pointing, urging us to scream louder, it felt like no time had passed at all.

‘Requiem for my Harlequin’ was stunning and every time Marko or Ollie looked my way, I was keenly aware of not knowing the lyrics. 😉 So instead of singing I cheered and smiled and watched in awe. Seeing them up close always has a special kind of magic and even at gig number three it still felt a little bit unreal. Familiar and strange at the same time. At the end of the song Jani was kneeling on the floor playing and Marko knelt in front of him singing.

“Come closer, let’S dream together,” Marko invited us and for ‘Dreaming wide awake’ all my attention was on Ollie, who stood on the raiser with Captain only to jump off of it during the “flying deadly high” line. 😀 Of course I pointed at each one of them in turn, singing “I dream you wide awake”. Marko asked us if we were feeling alright and loud cheers were the reply. Everyone was singing along with all their hearts and during the second verse he sang to me. My heart melted. The last “I take away all your fears” was dedicated to Captain, with Ollie and Marko both stretching out their hands towards him. 🙂

‘Rogue’ was so much fun with lots of great solos, posing and pointing to each other. Jani was down on his knees again, posing for Glen, who was still on picture duty. Marko was back for ‘Firedancer’ and chose to step down to the barrier and walk along there. As he passed me, I really wanted to hug him, but didn’t. Maybe he sensed it, because on the way back he put his hand on my shoulder and smiled at me, so I touched his arm in response. It was a short, sweet moment.

Marko joked that Nottingham had thought up a poetry festival just for them (it had started the previous day) and he thanked us, then seamlessly launched into ‘My Dark Disquiet’ with everyone clapping along, urged on by Ollie and Jani. Everyone played their hearts out all evening and I think it was during this song that Marko stepped up on the drum raiser and jumped off, flying high. Ollie and I sang along to the “false kings and bastards” line together. 😀 Through all this, Jari’s steady beat carried us and Captain sent perfect keyboard melodies in the air.

For ‘Sounds of yesterday’ Marko sat down in front of us and later stood arm in arm with Jani, while Ollie and Jaska were guitar dueling. The song was beautiful, I really like it. ❤️ ‘Choice Millionaire’ had everyone jumping and dancing again, before we got to take another breath with ‘Chasing Echoes’. That song is truly beautiful as well. I watched in awe as Ollie played a solo and Marko and Jani knelt at either side of him watching. It was lovely.

Once again I wondered where time had gone, as we had already reached ‘Stay forever’ and thus the end of the main set. It had been such a beautiful night so far with so much great energy coming from the audience and so many loving gestures exchanged among the band. When they left the stage, Marko formed a heart with his hands and showed it to us.

Soon they came back for ‘The Sweet Escape’, Ollie stood with Captain and Jaska got his great moment in the spotlight. ‘Daze’ and ‘Lift’ rocked the house again and everyone had so much fun. The grand finale was ‘Carnival of Rust’ where Marko stepped on the barriers once again and Jani joined him. It was all so beautiful that I cried. In the end the guys hugged each other and took one last picture with us before they left. It had been one hell of a show – oh my heart!

Once again I found myself in the merch queue, finally bought ‘Ghostligh’, got Tom Lumley’s album as well and had a nice chat with the band. Jani walked out and gave me a half hug in passing ❤️ Truly happy and filled with great memories I said goodbye to new and old friends and walked home. This, all of this! Always.

pictures of this concert

Setlist

Requiem for my Harlequin
Dreaming wide awake
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Firedancer
My Dark Disquiet
Sounds of yesterday
Choice Millionaire
Chasing Echoes
Stay forever

The Sweet Escape
Daze
Lift
Carnival of Rust

Ghostlight spring tour – three gigs down, two to go. Next stop: London

Hear them softly sigh, the sounds of yesterday

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Poets of the Fall – Club Academy, Manchester; May 6th, 2022

Poets of the Fall’s second gig on the tour brought us to Manchester and with it, things seemed to back on track, i.e. the band was more relaxed than the previous night and I felt fully in tour mode as well. It was fun!

I woke up in Dublin with ‘Ghostlight’ still playing in my head because I had fallen asleep to it and I was happy to really like the album. After breakfast and a morning walk I left for the airport and as I did it started raining. A few hours later I landed in Manchester, surprised there was no passport control whatsoever. Took a train into town, checked in, had some food and left for the venue. There was a small queue already, even though it was still a few hours until doors opened. Soon it started raining and eventually the nice security guys told us we could wait inside. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to queue at the venue doors which led to much chaos later. Oh well, I still scored a front row spot in front of Ollie, so no complaints.

This night brought a different support act, Tom Lumley & the Brave Liaison. They were fun to watch and a much better fit for Poets than the previous night’s band. I enjoyed their music, their energy and their craziness. They were all over the stage and even stepped on the barriers and leaned into the audience from time to time. It was good to hear they’d be with us until London.

Once Tom Lumley and band left the stage and everything was set up for our guys, I felt the anticipation grow. I can’t really describe or explain it, but just before the show the air is always charged somehow, like a thunderstorm waiting to start with lightning. It was especially palpable when the pre-concert music stopped and the lights went down, like everyone was collectively taking a deep breath. The intro started and we cheered, then listened only to start screaming as the band walked out. Marko turned the mic our way and pointed, his face saying “you know what to do”. Hell yeah we did!

Once again I was wearing my mask, because the room had a low ceiling and the air did not seem to move at all. This time though, the guys saw me right away. 😀 ‘Requiem for my Harlequin’ started the show in high gear and everyone screamed along to the “woo-hoo, woo-hoo” part. I remembered a bit of the lyrics already, but spent most of the time just watching in awe. The band might have been a bit rusty after two years, but they sure hadn’t lost any of their skills. 😀 Marko asked us how we were doing and declared it was good to be back and that it felt like dreaming. I prepared to see Ollie jump high and sang along as loud as I could and when I sang “’cause I can’t let you go” I spoke truth.

‘Temple of Thought’ was brilliant and brought memories of concerts past. I felt a surge of love for these guys. With ‘Rogue’ I was back to pure admiration and smiled as they gave each other space to shine, pointing this way and that, expressing “look at him!”, “now watch him”. There were a lot of hugs on stage too, just like the night before and several of the guys formed hearts with their hands and sowed them to us during the night.

‘Firedancer’ rocked the house and for ‘My Dark Disquiet’ Marko asked us to scream. We did and some of us danced and jumped wildly. I remembered all the little gestures now, like no time had passed at all since the last tour. It was so much fun. Somewhere along the lines Marko stepped down to the barriers and leaned into the crowd. ❤️ After taking a breath and just listening during ‘Sounds of yesterday’ things got more intense again for ‘Choice Millionaire’ and Marko wondered aloud if we could touch the ceiling while we jumped. Not quit, but some of us sure tried while the band was jumping around wildly too. 😀

Next was ‘Chasing Echoes’ and it is quickly becoming my favorite of the new songs. Those guitars, these lyrics. Amazing. ❤️ I could not believe we had already reached the end of the main set with ‘Stay forever’ – how is time always  going at triple speed during concerts?

They left, but it did not take them long to come back and treat us to ‘The Sweet Escape’. I really love that song and all the phone lights in the air add a special magic. I looked around and it was like stars shining through the night. Marko even called it a “starry night over Manchester”. The guitar solo in the end never gets old and Jaska delivered it perfectly. “Doesn’t that leave you … a little dazed?” Marko asked.

‘Daze’ was perfect! Then Marko asked us what was next, but people yelled all sorts of songs. It was ‘Lift’ of course and this time he remembered the “on and on and on” gesture, looking right at me. 😀 I will never get tired of this song, of screaming during the break, jumping to the chorus and watching Ollie fly. Last but not least was ‘Carnival of Rust’ of course and, as instructed, we all made the most of it. I tried to capture a picture of Jari, but he was always hidden behind the cymbals, so I just enjoyed the song. It is the perfect show closer.

Afterwards they took a picture of us, bowed a last time and Ollie shook hands with much of the front row. 😀 Once they had left I found I. and we stood in the merch queue together – it was huge. Jani came out to talk, but we stayed where we were. I wanted to buy ‘Ghostlight’, but it had already sold out. Luckily they were going to restock the next day. Thus, I got a tour shirt. The long queues made sense – thanks to Brexit shipping to Britain had become horrendously expensive and there were customs/taxes to pay on top of that so everyone aimed for buying merch at the show… Once back outside I chatted for a while, before I happily walked home. Two more UK shows to go. 😀

pictures of this concert

Setlist

Requiem for my Harlequin
Dreaming wide awake
Temple of Thought
Rogue
Firedancer
My Dark Disquiet
Sounds of yesterday
Choice Millionaire
Chasing Echoes
Stay forever

The Sweet Escape
Daze
Lift
Carnival of Rust

Ghostlight spring tour – two gigs down, three to go. Next stop: Nottingham