Arena Market: Estonia

Tallinn’s 10,000-cap Unibet Arena – formerly Saku Suurhalluntil a new naming rights deal with the Swedish betting company came into force at the beginning of 2023 – is the key area of Estonia.

From Pink and Ed Sheeran to Rihanna and Iron Maiden, the Unibet has welcomed many of the major artists who have made it to the Baltics, though as CEO Siim Ammon recently told IQ, Latvia’s Arena Riga and various Finnish alternatives are hard to beat for those looking to maximise their trip to the wider region.

“We are still losing a lot of acts that require a larger capacity and maybe a larger market.”

“In terms of large arenas in Europe, we are still a very small venue,” said Ammon. “Riga has an arena for 14,000 people, and Finland has many bigger arenas, so our 10,000 capacity means that even though we are the go-to arena in Estonia, we are still losing a lot of acts that require a larger capacity and maybe a larger market.”

Cash from Unibet’s sponsorship deal will be funnelled into new digital initiatives and modernising hospitality at the hall, which Ammon admitted has not quite managed to overcome an Estonian tendency to arrive in time for the show and no earlier.

Now 20 years old, the arena has played a role in the task of elevating local artists to arena level, including folk stars Trad. Attack!, rockers The Boondocks, and indie-rock four-piece Ewert and The Two Dragons.

Unibet Arena lives on a steady diet of European rock and pop, with Apocalyptica, Slipknot, Sabaton, and Måneskin among the visitors in the past year and Louis Tomlinson coming up in September.

Otherwise, Unibet Arena lives on a steady diet of European rock and pop, with Apocalyptica, Slipknot, Sabaton, and Måneskin among the visitors in the past year and Louis Tomlinson coming up in September. And while it may not be immediately evident, the war in Ukraine and the disappearance of Russia from touring routes do appear to have put a drag on traffic to the Baltic states.

“Promoters are telling us that agents are scared to come to this region because they feel like [Estonia] is also in the middle of the conflict, which it is not,” said Ammon. “And because tours don’t come to Russia now, it makes it more expensive to come here.

“But one good thing is that in the UK, for example, you can take it for granted that you can see your favourite act, whereas people in Estonia really appreciate that someone famous is coming to play here and will go and see them. So, while we have fewer shows, those shows are more special for audiences.”

“But one good thing is that in the UK, for example, you can take it for granted that you can see your favourite act, whereas people in Estonia really appreciate that someone famous is coming to play here and will go and see them.”

The slightly smaller Tondiraba Ice Hall (7,700 cap), also in Tallinn, majors in basketball and ice hockey but not to the exclusion of concerts this year by Russian rapper Morgenshtern, German DJ ATB, Russian duo Artik & Asti, and Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann.

And while Estonia’s arenas aren’t necessarily the biggest in the region, there is significant evidence of demand for international shows in the 1.2m-strong nation. The Weeknd plays Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in August (around a week before Depeche Mode do the same), and at the time of writing, the Canadian star had sold 55,000 tickets with two months to go.