Poets of the Fall, 20th Anniversary Tour – Gigs Diaries: Warsaw, Poland 04.09.2023

Poets of the Fall 20^th Anniversary European tour started on September 4^th 2023 in Warsaw, Poland, for me. A last-minute decision so I could meet my dear friend Susan, who’d come all the way from California to see the band… Poets of the Fall are more than just musicians playing amazing music. They are what started the beautiful friendships enriching my life for the past 5 years. So little time and yet it feels like forever.

So, where to begin?
Ah! Yes!

Susan

Did you bring a friend?
Did you come alone? Did you come alone?
Are you thinking of your friends?
Are your thinking of your loved ones?
– excerpt from gig intro, relaxation way, spoken by none other than Marko –

Susan was one of my first readers. This is how we met, through Misfit Heart and the bond that unites us goes further than the common passion we share for Poets of the Fall music. April 21^st, 2018 is when we first met – for real – in Helsinki, for Poets of the Fall 15^th Anniversary gig. I thought this would be the only show I’d attend but then she said something like: “Don’t say that! Wait… you’ll see!” So, I did, and I was back on the road towards Germany the following fall.

So, I’d like to dedicate this article to all the beautiful people I am privileged to call my friends today thanks to Poets of the Fall: Ana, Susan, Charlie, Stef, Aleksandra, Tujia, Rod, Patricia, Kirsi, Elli and all of you on my ever-growing list.

Poets of the Fall made this possible and I am eternally grateful to them for it. So, no I did not bring a friend, my friends brought me here.

Déjà Vu

What is this? A déjà vu…
Is this a déjà vu ? Have you been here before? (French?! 🥰)
– excerpt from gig intro, relaxation way, spoken by none other than Marko –

Last time I had met Susan was April 2019, in Warsaw… What goes round comes around, I guess.

👉You There! What, me?

How did you get here?
Did you walk up the stairs?
Did you take the train, the tram, ride on a bus?
– excerpt from gig intro, relaxation way, spoken by none other than Marko –

Warsaw 2023 is my 16^th Poets of the Fall concert in 5 years… really nothing compared to most of my friends, but it is not a competition. It is, however, the first time I travel and spend my first day abroad on my lonesome. I slept 2 hours in Arlanda, up at 4 am and headed to terminal 4 very early on September 2^nd. I was at my hotel in Warsaw by 10 am, to find that my room wasn’t ready – no surprise here.

I left my luggage and did some scouting to find the venue, Klub Proxima. It was easy enough, but rather trying in the heat as I was heavily dressed. I spent my day walking, trying to figure out the trams, saw beautiful places, got lost and reached my hotel again at 5 pm – after about a 15 km walk under the ever so bright sun of Warsaw 🥵. All in all, I enjoyed every second of it, but ultimately, I was beat and needed some rest.

The next day, I reunited with Susan and Aleksandra, and met Terri. We had a lovely day together until it was time for me to leave them and wait for Ana and Stef arriving by train from Budapest at  8:30 pm. We caught up a bit, had a bite to eat and another day had gone.

And THAT is how I got here… 😘

Priority Pass

Is there something you’d like to say?
Is there something you want to say?
Is there something you’d like to say?
– excerpt from gig intro, relaxation way, spoken by none other than Marko –

You knew this was coming… 😁

While Susan, Aleksandra and Terri started queueing around 3 pm – despite their priority passes – we, others, decided that we did not want to spend 4 hours queueing. So, we went for a walk in Sakura Park Warszawa, close-by the venue. The weather was gorgeous, the park beautiful with some remnants of old Warsaw here and there.

We arrived at Klub Proxima around 5 pm. Obviously, people were already there, some who had a priority pass… some who did not. We were there early enough though to secure front row, not all were as lucky. I do understand the need for it – Stef explained – and yet, it felt very much like a rushed decision which could have deserved a little bit more thoughts. Could I have come up with something better? I haven’t the foggiest. But I’ll say no more…

Daring and Original Gig Intro

There wasn’t an opening act, or at least not in the conventional way. There wasn’t either the usual music playlist to put us in the mood for what was coming. Marko was the opening act, in a very daring and original way: a relaxation intro, which you have been reading snippets of in this article.

To hear it all, get your behind to a gig, there is still time 🥰: Poets of the Fall 20th Anniversary Tour, Tickets and if you can, don’t forget your Priority Pass.

I love the intro, and there are parts that are very effective indeed – others are less so because of the constant chatters in the venue – so I am going to say it as I feel it: People! You lovely people, could you please shut up and listen quietly! Just play the game… it is part of the show, of the experience… Poets of the Fall are giving us something new and rather magical, and you just ignore it. Come on!

The show will start in 1 min.
– excerpt from gig intro, relaxation way, spoken by none other than Marko –

So it begins

They are here with you, tonight.
– excerpt from gig intro, relaxation way, spoken by none other than Marko –

As relaxing as the intro was, the rush of adrenaline that takes over you when the musicians come on stage is uncontrollable. I thought I knew what to expect, but this show brought surprises after surprises. Long absentees from the shows I had attended before, made their come back: Locking Up the Sun, Illusion & Dream, Sleep… don’t get me started on Sleep. I got a fleeting look from Marko during the bridge, just a second, but that was enough to make the show extra special to me.

I attended the show in Helsinki, on August 24th and my heart was literally shattered. Choice Millionaire was gone from the setlist. I could not believe it, so I went to this show expecting the same setlist I had heard in Finland. Little did I know that our beautiful Poets had something up their sleeves. In the second set, Choice Millionaire was back. I was so happy I felt tears of joy coming up making me see everything very blurry for a few seconds. Do I love this song? Yeah, I do. This is one of the first songs I heard from Poets of the Fall. It is my pick-me up song and has been since the beginning of my Poets journey.

Live… it actually reaches perfection. You all know what I am talking about 🙃. The thing is that he does something similar on Daze now. Magical. We wants it on a CD, precious!

So put a lacquer on your hunger
Parade the sky that you’re under ↑
– Choice Millionaire © Poets of the Fall, 2015 – Jealous Gods –

On a side note… I chose the quote “They are here with you, tonight“, because this trip to Warsaw has been an emotional one to me. The historical heritage of the Polish people is linked to my own heritage, to my grand-father who had been a prisoner during WWII and who told me about it. I recorded it and my mum and I put it into a book, which I will translate to English some day soon. All that to say – no offence Poets – that even though my grand-father would have hated the music, he was with me that evening at Proxima, ever so present as Marko uttered these words. ❤️

Rogue musicians

When Rogue starts – after Temple of Thought – and Jani talks to the audience with his bass, I felt a slight lack of synchronization between the audience and Jani – just like in Helsinki… rather unusual I must say. It did not last though, and we were all in the zone pretty quickly. This song is absolutely outstanding on stage, a well-oiled machine of riffs and musical dialogues. I am always so giddy when it starts 🤭.  So… when Jani starts playing and pauses, we’re supposed to scream… got it?! 😘Come on frenz’, shape up!

Slider photos, 2023.09.04 Poets of the Fall – Warszawa, klub Proxima © Andrzej kaziq Wasilkiewicz, Andrzej Wasilkiewicz/kaziq.com – Thank you for the loan 🥰.

Intermission

The 20^th Anniversary tour is full of energy and surprises. It does not slow down much until a 20 minutes intermission – which is also very new. Probably what Captain meant by “we’ll try something we never did before” on his Instagram some months ago – or so I thought, I am now absolutely certain that it is not what he was talking about 😂. Anyway, I am going to be a kill-joy here, but 20 minutes is way too long for the audience 😂. This being said, seeing how much stamina you guys need on stage to deliver this amazing show, I’ll say no big deal after all 😘. Besides, it means longer time with my friends 🤭.

Flying bead

Olli was my to-go guy that evening. So many smiles, looks and nods… at some point, Marko jumped around so much that he lost a bead from his belt jewelry (or whatever it is called 😅). When the song ended, and before the next one would start, I desperately pointed at the bead in the middle of the stage to Olli, who skillfully pushed it to the side and gave me a thumbs up. Disaster averted, alleluia!  🥳 Marko did find it later during the show and inconspicuously slid it into his jeans pocket.

Night and Day

Only one week had passed between the Helsinki show and the one in Warsaw and I must say: there is such a difference between the gigs, it is night and day. The band’s energy is different, high but somehow less engaging there than it was at Proxima. So, if you want to experience the full Poets of the Fall effect, get your butts to a European gig – although technically, Finland is still part of Europe – and UK isn’t, just saying. Meh, go figure – my head hurts 🤪!

👉 Poets of the Fall 20th Anniversary Tour, Tickets and if you can, don’t forget your Priority Pass.👈

Encore

Jari short solo on Lift was really uplifting and unexpected. Finally! I have been waiting for something like that for what seems like forever. Thank you 🥰! That was so much fun! Lift had another highlight. As Olli started his brilliant solo, and Marko was crouching down on my side of the stage, he suddenly got up and went to the other side. Typical! When I looked, I saw a phone I thought I recognized, but I said to myself, nah… it can’t be it. But it was! Ana’s phone! Marko took a selfie with Ana… omg this was so cool – envious of course – but so freakin’ happy for Ana that envy disappeared to give way to cheer joy. Awesome 😁.

You see, it’s the little things that make special moments such as this extra special. Wonderful!

Shout out to Proxima Security Staff

Carnival of Rust, Marko and Olli looked concerned about someone in the audience who wasn’t feeling well… they seemed to be genuinely worried, and I thought that Marko would stop singing at some point. He was pointing here and there to get the security staff to help. They handled the situation quickly – Kudos Proxima security! No tragedy occurred and all was well… I’ll say no more on the matter though. But take care of each other you beautiful people out there… that goes for you as well Poets of the Fall.

An ever so slightly changing setlist

Now, I have a theory about the setlist… care to hear it? 🤣

Leg 1

• Prague: 16 songs… in set 2, Kings of Fool and Sleep were added (compared to the previous show in Helsinki). The Encore had 3 songs.
• Budapest: 16 songs… in set 2, You’re Still Here replaces Kings of Fool. The Encore had 2 songs (one of the Encore songs moved to set 2).
• Warsaw: 17 songs… in set 2, Fragile replaces You’re Still Here and, Choice Millionaire is back. The Encore had 2 songs.
• Berlin: 17 songs… in set 2, Desire replaces Fragile. The Encore had 2 songs.

Leg 2… care to guess?

• Amsterdam: my guess 18
• Hamburg: my guess 18
• Copenhagen: my guess 19… the songs, I don’t wanna guess, I wanna be surprised.
• Stockholm: my guess 19… the songs, I don’t wanna guess, I wanna be surprised.

Leg 3… the guess maybe be even wilder

• Paris (maybe): my guess 20… the songs, I don’t wanna guess, I wanna be surprised.
• Camden: ?
• Manchester: ?
• Nottingham: ?

These are, of course, wild conjectures and wishful thinking of a slightly crazy mind 😂 – I have absolutely no control over it 😘. That would, however, better explain the need for the Intermission. Although, they are giving their all and when we saw Jani after the gig – all gracious and patient as he usually is – he looked exhausted. The Intermission must be a nice breather, no matter the number of songs on the setlist.

So many momentums that are flooding my mind right now, but I cannot put them all here. I realize that now. After the show, Ana came to find me and gave me a hug as we usually do after each gig we share. You know the feeling when you have watched a life changing event, or an amazing movie… the awe and beatitude you find yourself in at that moment? This is how it felt to me after the show in Warsaw.

Looking forward to the next 2 (maybe 3) gigs. The energy, the music, the love, the fun, the complicity… all that and more define Poets of the Fall ❤️.

Thank you Poets of the Fall for the amazing Warsaw gig. Love you loads! 🥰

Until Next Time,

Yours truly!
/Claire 🌸