The Date: 18.3.2011
The Place: Helsinki, Tavastia
The Album: Alchemy vol 1
When
we (me and my significant other, Mikko) arrived at Tavastia, we decided
to leave our jackets in the car, because we didn't have any cash with
us to pay the “service-fee” for coats and the parking space we found was
very close to the club. We entered and the doorman was a bit rude, he
said that we would have to pay the fee nevertheless. I can understand
paying for the service, but paying for the service I don't use? That's
just ridiculous. So we just sneaked past the coat hangers.
Petri
was selling merchandise so I went to say hi to him and talked a bit.
Then we entered the stage-area. I would have imagined, that because we
arrived there so late (about fifteen past nine) there were no chance to
get even a decent view to the stage. But fortunately I was mistaken. We
were able to find a great spot at the left side of the stage, first it
was about 5 rows from the stage and then it was about three. We had a
great visibility and Mikko was able to take some nice pictures also.
The
new intro was cool. Mikko said that it was definitely made by Captain,
he could hear the demoscene-influences in it. When you have seen enough
demos, you recognize the style. The gig started only 5 minutes late,
that was surprise to Mikko but not to me. For some reason Tavastia gigs
usually start on time.
The gig started with "Can you Hear Me" and
was a nonstop joygasm for me from that moment on. I sang along with all
might of my lungs, jumped, danced, giggled and laughed. I was surprised
that "No End, No Beginning" was the third song, I was dead sure that it
would be the last song of the gig and the lights of the stage would go
out as the last sentence of that song would echo. But maybe it would
have been too obvious of a choice. It was nevertheless amazing to hear
those new songs live for the first time.
I loved hearing Sleep
after such a long time. I think I have heard it live once or twice, it
has been very rare indeed. And as I love Roses, it was joyous to hear it
first time as a live performance. As Marko introduced it, many people
have wished that it would be on their set list.
There were a lot
of “oh, those good old times” vibes and moves present on the show.
During Locking up the Sun's “Someone who holds out a hand and turns back
time” Marko held out his hand once and turned it like winding back
time. There was raising of bottles and glasses during Illusion and
Dream, I had my own juice bottle with me just because of that. The
song/play competition between Olli and Marko during Late Goodbye and
using Illusion and Dream as the fake-ending. I have heard it so many
times as a final song or final song before encores, that now every time I
hear it on the radio or from cd, my mind automatically adds “Poets of
the Fall thanks you, good night!” to the ending of the song!
But
there were also some unpredictability also. The thing that sticks to my
mind mostly, was just before Carnival of Rust. At the front row there
was this young girl, who had a gray felt bowler hat. Marko asked her if
he could borrow it, put in on top pf his head and said that he has to
get into the character. Then he struck a pose that was straight from the
video and held it for a few moments. Then he “came to life”, grinned
maniacally and started moving mechanically as the song started. Then he
returned the hat and started to perform the song as usual. I was
awestruck and just stared at the stage and said “whoa” under my breath.
During
some of the songs, Marko started draw with black marker pen some
doodles on his left arm while singing. During at the end of “Given and
Denied”, there is this sort of outro, where the music swells up and
rises. I love that outro and what I love even more, is that Captain does
this thing with his hands during it, he raises his hands while the
music is rising. I noticed it when they were touring with “Twilight
Theater” and was pleased to see that he still does it.
There were
also some mistakes and missteps, as Marko forgot what he was singing
during Locking up the Sun and Captain stumbled on his way back to his
keyboards at the beginning of Late Goodbye.
Marko also mentioned
that there were quite an international audience gathered there that
night and he hoped they would enjoy their stay. And then they performed
Stay.
The encore songs were fittingly Late Goodbye, Carnival of
Rust and Lift. I just love that Carnival of Rust and Lift are back to
back, because to me they are different sides of a same coin. Carnival of
Rust is heart wrenching, achingly beautiful song, that makes me want to
cry and Lift is so full of positive energy that it makes me laugh out
loud. I also love the little changes that Marko does to the melody while
Carnival of Rust.
And so the gig ended. All the 15 songs from Alchemy, hour and a half of pure joy.
But
the fun wasn't over yet. I had no idea that there were so many old
friends. There were Bolo Hamwitch and his girlfriend, Tuitu and the
Cheerleaders with plastic inflatable instruments and for a longest of
time, LivingDeathGirl.It felt like the good old days again, a lot of
hugging, laughing and enthusing. I also said briefly hi and bye to Mako.
For a while, it felt like I got back my family that I thought I lost.
After
a while, the boys appeared to give out autographs. I had with me the
Alchemy cover, because this time I wanted to get all of the autographs
at the same page. And so I did. I thanked Olli for the gig that was the
greatest party ever and Jani thanked me for being there. I couldn't stop
smiling and at the end of the night my cheeks were actually hurting for
smiling so much. I got to share awesome gig with my love and lovely
forum peeps. Cherry on top was seeing LivingDeathGirl after such a long
time, I didn't even realize how much I had missed her. Then we said our
goodbyes and I left with my love back to Tampere, high as a kite.
