Country Profile: Finland

Finland’s promoters are industrious. Among them, Fullsteam, founded in 2003, came into FKP Scorpio in 2015 and is a powerhouse, promoting Ed Sheeran, Rammstein, Justin Bieber, System of a Down, and The Killers in recent years, as well as diverse domestic artists such as JVG, Stam1na, Paperi T, CMX, Asa, and others. It also operates a record company, publishing, management and two festivals: Sideways and Provinssi.

Head promoter Rauha Kyyrö says: “Since restrictions lifted in March, things have been pretty crazy. There were lots of shows happening but there was some uncertainty from audiences and artists in the spring about whether they would be able to go ahead.

“Since restrictions lifted in March, things have been pretty crazy”

“However, when summer came things got even more intense – 2019 was a record year in Finland, but this time it was even busier. There were more festivals than ever; the established events such as Sideways, Flow, Ilosaarirock and Ruisrock had record years, and Provinssi had the second largest audience in its 43-year history.

“We did Knotfest with Slipknot and it had more than 45,000 people over two days, plus a sold out Ed Sheeran show at the Olympic Stadium. But the smaller festivals, which boomed during times when restrictions were temporarily lifted, struggled to compete.

“Missing the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki means there isn’t an arena of over 10,000-capacity, and adding in the fact that Finnish dates can’t be linked with shows in Russia, means some tours won’t come through here. Still, local artists are playing lots of arena dates.”

All Things Live has a footprint in Finland, too, and in addition to shows with Céline Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Louis Tomlinson, and Manowar, it operates the WKND Festival in Hämeenlinna, headlined by David Guetta this year, with 60,000 visitors over three days.

“Missing the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki means there isn’t an arena of over 10,000-capacity, and adding in the fact that Finnish dates can’t be linked with shows in Russia, means some tours won’t come through here. Still, local artists are playing lots of arena dates.”

Live Nation Finland is another major player, founded on Risto Juvonen’s Welldone Agency and Promotions. Juvonen departed as chairman in 2020 and Tomi Saarinen has served as CEO since 2019.

Live Nation’s accustomed flow of international arena acts remains solid, in spite of the shuttering of the Hartwall Arena in April 2022 due to its Russian ownership. The new Nokia Arena in Tampere, opened in late 2021, has done stand-in duty.

“That’s been a blessing,” says Live Nation promoter Scott Lavender. “Tampere is within easy reach of Helsinki, so it hasn’t really affected our business in that way.” The Nokia, consequently, is where Live Nation will send Robbie Williams and Iron Maiden next year, and where Volbeat, Sting, Eric Clapton, and Queen + Adam Lambert went in 2022.

Live Nation Finland has also been building its domestic roster. In 2019, it acquired Hög Agency & Promotion, which represents Finnish artists such as Olavi Uusivirta, Adi L Hasla, Mouhous, and Vilma Alina.

“Finland is well known for rock music and people talk a lot about that”

Finland’s tastes and its range of talent, says Lavender, are broader than many suppose. “Finland is well known for rock music and people talk a lot about that,” he says. “The reality is that rock is really big and we can do really successful shows, but there’s a very broad music base.

With the range of headline shows we do and the festivals that exist, you can pretty much get to hear any style of music, and there’s a good audience for everything.”

In 2019, Live Nation acquired hip-hop festival Blockfest – which takes place at Tampere Stadium and attracts some 75,000 festivalgoers each year – bringing founder Kalle Kallonen and his team on board.

Among Finland’s best-known festivals is the eclectic Flow Festival in Suvilhati, Helsinki, which drew 90,000 attendees over three days of its comeback edition in 2022. Multinational festival owner/operator Superstruct Entertainment bought into the event in 2018.

losaarirock in Joensuu, eastern Finland, which has chalked up a half-century since its founding in 1971 by the Joensuu Pop Musicians’ Association, remains within the same structure today, directing its profits to the North Karelian music scene. The huge Ruisrock in Turku is older still – by a year – and is organised by Vantaan Festivaalit and promoter Mikko Niemelä.

Other Finnish promoters include Grey Beard Concerts, which works with a heavy roster consisting of Amorphis, Amaranthe, Sabaton, and Amo.