After years without an active arena, Finland’s capital is set to become home to two large indoor venues.

It is hoped that Helsinki’s former Hartwall Arena (cap. 15,500) will be able to reopen in late spring after being mothballed for almost three years due to sanctions relating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Currently owned by Arena Events Oy (AEO), a company co-founded by oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and Roman Rotenberg, the venue is in the process of being sold to investment firm Trevian, pending approval from both the Finnish authorities and the EU.

“We have found a solution that suited us as buyers, that suited the Russian sellers, and a solution that was also potentially acceptable to the authorities,” Trevian CEO Reima Södervall said last month.

Elsewhere, Finnish project management contractor SRV has been selected as partner to develop Garden Helsinki.

The scheme will include a 19,000-cap multipurpose arena and connected hotel, offices, car park and residential buildings in the neighbourhood of Töölö. It will be located close to the Helsinki indoor skating rink, Bolt Arena and Helsinki Olympic Stadium.

“We will bring our diverse experience in similar arena projects in Tampere and Turku”

The company, which previously built Tampere’s Nokia Arena (cap. 15,000), has signed an agreement with Projekti GH Oy, which is overseeing the €800 million project. Described as including “the world’s most modern arena”, construction work is due to start in spring 2026.

SRV is also behind a new 9,800-capacity multi-purpose arena scheduled to be built in the town of Hyvinkää – less than 30 miles from Helsinki – by the end of 2026, as well as a separate complex in the southwestern city of Turku.

“We are delighted to work with Project GH Oy and the City of Helsinki to develop a new event hub in Töölö,” says SRV president and CEO Saku Sipola. “We will bring our diverse experience in similar arena projects in Tampere and Turku. Nokia Arena, developed jointly by the City of Tampere and SRV, includes offices, hotel and apartments and has generated a sense of vitality and substantial economic activity in the city.

“It has also been shown to support the City of Tampere’s strategy and image as an international event city. We believe that Garden Helsinki will provide Helsinki with a similarly significant appeal, stimulation and competitiveness as a city of sports, culture and major events.”

Garden Helsinki was originally due to be completed in stages from 2020 to 2023, but was delayed by the pandemic.

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The long-running saga over the future of the former Hartwall Arena appears to finally be nearing a conclusion after its Russian owners agreed to sell the venue to a group of Finnish investors.

Currently known as Helsinki Halli, Finland’s largest arena has been mothballed for more than two and a half years since the end of February 2022 due to sanctions relating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 15,500-cap venue is owned by Arena Events Oy (AEO), which was co-founded by oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and Roman Rotenberg.

Earlier this month, the City of Helsinki announced it was taking legal action as it steps up its efforts to expropriate the venue, which is located in the district of Ilmala. However, IS reports a deal has now been reached with a consortium headed by businessman Heikki Viitikko and is awaiting approval from the EU and Finnish authorities.

While financial details have not been revealed, the publication notes the sale price is believed to be in excess of €60 million, which would go to an escrow (third party) account, monitored by the authorities, until the sanctions are lifted.

“The City of Helsinki’s primary goal has been voluntary sale, as it would best ensure that the arena is taken back into use as swiftly as possible”

“The City of Helsinki’s primary goal has been voluntary sale, as it would best ensure that the arena is taken back into use as swiftly as possible,” says Helsinki’s city manager Jukka-Pekka Ujula. “The city is however not a party to the sales agreement, and is therefore unaware of the contract specifics.”

Beverage giant Hartwall ended its 25-year association with the arena due to its Russian ownership shortly after the war began, while concerts by acts such as Elton John, Dua Lipa, Queen + Adam Lambert, Bjork, Eric Clapton, Kiss and The Cure were either cancelled or moved to other venues.

The City is also planning on buying the plot on which the arena stands from its current owner, the Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company. The purchase will not impact the ownership of the building.

“The purchase of the plot will do away with the impractical lease arrangement,” adds head of the plots unit at the City of Helsinki Timo Laiho. “By buying the plot, the City will secure a better standing to renegotiate the terms of the lease going forward.”

It was revealed last month, meanwhile, that a new 9,800-capacity multi-purpose arena is slated to open in the Finnish town of Hyvinkää, 30 miles from Helsinki, by the end of 2026.

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Live Nation has inked a deal to manage Allas Live on Helsinki’s waterfront in 2025, marking the firm’s expansion into Finland’s venue market.

Allas Live is a 2,500-capacity open-air venue within the Allas Sea Pool complex, which includes swimming pools, saunas and restaurants.

As part of the deal, Live Nation will manage the annual Allas Live outdoor concert series, in partnership with Allas Sea Pool.

Launched in 2020, the series attracted 95,000 visitors over 54 shows this summer, breaking a record for the venue.

Popular Finnish artists like Kaija Koo, and Haloo Helsinki! have previously graced the venue’s stage, as well as international acts such as Flogging Molly and Paolo Nutini.

“We are looking forward to the arrival of international artists in particular and, of course, an increase in audience numbers”

Live Nation says plans are in place to increase capacity at the venue to attract more international stars to the city and draw a bigger audience.

“We’re excited to take on the management of Allas Live and expand Live Nation’s venue portfolio to Finland,” says Live Nation will Tomi Saarinen, MD Live Nation Finland.

“Located in the heart of the city, the venue is ideal for artists wanting to perform in Helsinki, and we’re looking forward to elevating live entertainment experiences for fans and artists. The demand for more summer events in Helsinki is clear, and we’re thrilled to be supporting the growth of the city’s cultural scene.”

Raoul Grünstein, chairman of the board of Allas Sea Pool, adds: “Allas Live was launched in 2020 and now with an audience of 95,000 people, has grown to become one of the most important concert venues in Helsinki, particularly during the summer season. The new partnership will allow Allas Live to take its offering to the next level. We are looking forward to the arrival of international artists in particular and, of course, an increase in audience numbers.”

Live Nation Finland recently wrapped a summer stadium run in Helsinki with Metallica, Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen, which had an economic impact of  €114 million and brought hundreds of thousands of fans to the market, according to the firm.

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Finland’s Fullsteam Agency has announced that Sideways Festival will not take place in its current form after 2024.

The festival, which launched in 2018, will take place at Helsinki Ice Hall (also known as Nordis) for the last time between 13 and 15 June.

Bat For Lashes, Jungle and Peggy Gou are due to headline the final edition, with acts including Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Fontaines DC and Ladytron filling out the bill.

In a statement released today (28 May), organisers said that “making a festival that is ambitious in terms of content and service offering and larger in size is rewarding but challenging”.

“In particular, the general economic situation of recent years and the rise in cost levels have significantly affected the possibilities of making the organisation of the event in its current form profitable,” it reads.

“We have decided that now is the right time to turn the page and look to the future with an open mind”

The statement continues: “In addition, the long-term planning of the event has been complicated by various uncertainty factors, such as the giant Garden arena, which has been planned for years on the site of the Sideways festival area. Other development projects in the vicinity of Nordis, surrounding construction sites and other events organized in and around the ice rink have also made the development of Sideways challenging in the long term. For example, multi-year lease agreements for the event area, which are typical for the industry, have not been possible for us, which has made planning the continuity of the festival significantly more difficult.

“From the beginning, Sideways’ ideology has included innovation, pioneering, surprise and continuous development. So that there is no need to compromise on these values, we have decided that now is the right time to turn the page and look to the future with an open mind. So we don’t yet know what Sideways will look like in the future or where and when we will gather in the coming years. We will ask our customers for their wishes and thoughts about the future, because the warm and communal atmosphere fostered at the heart of Sideways is thanks to them. We are grateful for the kind of summer weekends we have experienced first at Teurastamo and now during the last seven years at Nordis.”

Fullsteam Agency represents around a hundred domestic acts such as JVG, KUUMAA, Joalin and Stam1na, and organises festivals including Provinssi and Knotfest Finland. Since 2015, the firm has been part of FKP Scorpio.

Fullsteam founder Rauha Kyyrö was recently appointed to FKP’s international board as president touring & artist development.

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Finland is reportedly seeking ways to take control of the country’s largest arena, which has been shut since last year because of sanctions against its billionaire Russian owners.

Authorities in the capital city estimate that up to €400 million of income per year is being lost for hotels, restaurants and other businesses while the former Hartwall Arena in Helsinki is shuttered.

The 15,500-cap venue has been owned by Arena Events Oy (AEO) – a company co-founded by oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and Roman Rotenberg – since 2013.

All of Timchenko’s holdings in the European Union (EU) have been frozen, while Rotenberg’s family is the target of US sanctions for their close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Finland, which joined NATO in April in response to neighbouring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is a firm supporter of EU sanctions but hopes an exception can be made to allow it to take control of the arena.

Several bidders have expressed an interest in buying the arena, but any sale price would be frozen until sanctions are lifted

The government is also considering options to expropriate the venue if the Russian owners refuse to sell their stakes voluntarily.

Helsinki mayor Juhana Vartiainen is hoping for the latter. “We are aware that active negotiations to sell the hall are ongoing and we hope that the transaction would proceed as quickly as possible, in order to get the hall back to the use of Helsinkians,” he told Reuters.

Several bidders have expressed an interest in buying the arena but under the current situation, any sale price would be frozen by Finland’s bailiff authority until the sanctions are lifted, Finland’s foreign ministry said.

The EU’s current sanction rules do not include expropriation of frozen assets, which could complicate that option, it added.

Beverage giant Hartwall ended its 25-year association with the building – since renamed Helsinki Halli – due to its Russian ownership.

Earlier this year, Finland’s Flow Festival ended its brand partnership with Heineken Silver due to the lager firm’s operations in Russia.

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ASM Global is partnering with Suvilahden Areena Oy in Finland to secure the future development of Helsinki’s Hanasaari power plant area.

The site is best known for hosting Helsinki’s annual Flow Festival, which hosts some 30,000 visitors per day.

Suvilahden Areena Oy, a privately owned Finnish development company, applied for a development reservation for the site in March 2023.

A further feasibility and market research study was then completed in May 2023 by venue consultants CAA ICON, which “confirmed the viability of the project economically… provided that the city is contributing to the implementation of the project”.

Both companies’ shared goal is to secure a development reservation for the area and to start actual planning work in cooperation with the operators of the area and the city.

Plans include building a [17,000-capacity] arena onsite and using the existing structure and festival grounds to continue to cultivate the area for music, arts and events, while preserving as much of the power plant building as possible, supporting the local culture and environment and to combine the current festival area within the development.

“Hanasaaren Voimala is a major next step for ASM Global in Finland”

According to ASM Global, “there is also scope for incorporating sports programming on a major scale”.

President of ASM Global Europe, Chris Bray, says: “Hanasaaren Voimala is a major next step for ASM Global in Finland. We already have a strong presence in Scandinavia and are now building on our recent expansion into Helsinki, which includes Kulttuuritalo. We believe that with our unrivalled global network, we will bring the world’s most sought-after concerts and artists to fans in Helsinki.

“Hanasaaren Voimala has an exceptional location. The possibility of building a new arena and entertainment hub by the sea with a festival area and an urban culture project is an exciting prospect. Suvilahden Areena Oy has done a great job together with CAA ICON, and we are looking forward to the project progressing in the near future.”

CEO of Suvilahden Areena Oy, Timo Nieminen, adds: “Cooperation with ASM Global strengthens the credibility of our project. We get to use ASM’s experience and best practice regarding venue management. Basing the design on strong experience and insights is a prerequisite for a financially feasible project. Our cooperation will certainly continue in the planning phase with CAA ICON as well.

“We are now just waiting for the development reservation to be granted by the city. We aim to run a planning process, working with the key players from the Suvilahti and Hanasaari power plant area, the environs and the city of Helsinki.”

ASM Global made its first foray into Finland earlier this year, having been appointed to run operations at Helsinki venue Kulttuuritalo (The House of Culture).

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ASM Global has announced the appointment of Emilia Mikkola as general manager of Helsinki’s Kulttuuritalo (The House of Culture), its first venue in Finland.

Mikkola has been heavily involved in the planning and delivery of more than 30 events and festivals across Finland and Europe for 15 years, including as event director at Finland’s largest gaming event Assembly. She also worked as production manager for Flow Festival for over a decade.

ASM was appointed to run operations the 1,400-capacity venue in the Alppila district last month.

“As ASM Global expands into Finland, we’re delighted to have Emilia on board to plant the flag in this exciting new market,” says the company’s SVP operations Europe Marie Lindqvist. “Kulttuuritalo is a culturally rich and much-loved venue in Helskinki, and at this important time in its redevelopment, it is key that we have a best-in-class team on board to relaunch the venue with great success and phenomenal impact.

“Emilia comes with real, on the ground experience working across a huge array of live events of all sizes and scales, making her a perfect fit for a venue like this, which is prided for its varied and diverse programme of events.”

“We’re delighted to have Emilia on board to plant the flag in this exciting new market”

The 1950s venue is set for a “transformative” relaunch and will soon boast a new 300-cap live music space which will play host to live music, club nights, DJs, and streaming events.

Upcoming concerts in the main hall, meanwhile, include Patti Smith, Elvis Costello and Rumours of Fleetwood Mac. Mikkola describes her new role as her “dream job”.

“I am extremely grateful and motivated for the opportunity I have been given,” she says. “Kulttuuritalo is iconic, prestigious, and full of endless possibilities, and our goal is to provide diverse and high-quality programme and experiences throughout the year.

“In recent years, several concert halls in Helsinki area have closed their doors, resulting in a shortage of event venues. We want to strengthen the position of the Kulttuuritalo as the most exciting event arena in the capital region and invest in its functionality.”

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ASM Global has been appointed to run operations at Helsinki venue Kulttuuritalo (The House of Culture), marking the company’s first foray into Finland.

Founded nearly 70 years ago, the 1,400-capacity venue in the Alppila district hosts events ranging from concerts, festive events, gala nights and trade shows.

The 1950s venue has a rich cultural history, designed by world-famous architect and modernist visionary Alvar Aalto. To this day, Kulttuuritalo continues its strong and important relationship with the Alvar Aalto Foundation.

The companies say the partnership will aim to “relaunch and future-proof the venue for generations to come, cementing it as a ‘must-visit’ cultural destination and capturing an even wider audience”.

ASM Global will also lead the renovation of Kulttuuritalo’s basement space, Klubi, including the building of a new 300-capacity live music space.

“We are extremely excited to partner with ASM Global in re-creating it as the landmark cultural venue in Helsinki”

The ‘state-of-the-art’ new club space will play host to live music, club nights, DJs, and streaming events, further broadening and diversifying the events and audiences at the Helsinki venue, according to a press release.

“On behalf of all at ASM Global, I’d like to welcome Kultturitalo to the team,” says Chris Bray, executive vice president, Europe at ASM Global. “This is a wonderful venue with a rich cultural significance in Helsinki, so we’re incredibly excited to be on board to manage operations and relaunch Kultturitalo through significant investment in infrastructure, food and beverage and developing a new club venue in the basement of the venue. This is our first step into Finland, so it’s a huge opportunity for ASM Global, which is already established and seeing huge success in Europe and the Nordics, to expand further into what’s a growing market brimming with opportunity.”

Patrik Sarajuuri, CEO, Helsingin Kulttuurihub Oy adds: “Since acquiring the property in 2022, Helsingin Kulttuurihub Oy has been keen to develop the content and offering of the House of Culture and we are extremely excited to partner with ASM Global in re-creating it as the landmark cultural venue in Helsinki. This partnership with the leading global venue operator and creator of live experience enables us to further liven up the content and bring to life this unique building, bringing it closer to all people for live events. House of Culture has exceptional facilities for multiple different uses and experiences with a great location. We are very pleased with the new agreement, which enables significant investment in this iconic venue.”

ASM Global has a portfolio of 350 venues the world over which host 20,000 events, and welcome 165 million guests every year.

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Live Nation Finland has announced a new two-day electronic music festival in the capital city, called U Nation.

International stars Eric Prydz, Charlotte de Witte, CamelPhat, Honey Dijon and The Blessed Madonna are billed to perform alongside Finnish DJs Orkidea and Mr. A at the inaugural event.

U Nation will take place in Kansalaistori Square, a sunlit plaza in the midst of Helsinki’s Hietalahti district, on 30 June and 1 July.

The festival is the brainchild of Harri Andersson, who was hired as a promoter at Live Nation Finland last autumn and has had an extensive career and received much international recognition under the artist name Proteus.

“The idea of U Nation is to provide the ultimate open-air party powered by electronic dance music”

“The idea of U Nation is to provide the ultimate open-air party powered by electronic dance music,” says Andersson. “I want U Nation to be a celebration of individuality and love, where everyone can be all that they are. I have curated the list of performers carefully and am extremely happy with our lineup. The event lineup features highly esteemed top artists in electronic music, whom we have long wanted and waited to see in Finland, as well as Finnish electronic music stars.”

Sanna Forsström, head of the brand, marketing and events unit of the city of Helsinki, adds: “It is fantastic to have a new and unique event in the middle of the Helsinki summer. We also share Live Nation’s objectives of equality between people, environmental sustainability and the freedom to be just who you are. Helsinki wants to be a lively city attracting international travel and events, and this is an excellent example of what this aim means in practice.”

Prices for U Nation start from €69 for a Friday ticket, €79 for a Saturday ticket and €135 for a two-day ticket.

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Finland’s Flow Festival is planning a shake up of its formula as it builds from a position of strength following its biggest edition yet in 2022.

Organisers of the Superstruct-backed festival, which welcomed 90,000 visitors to the post-industrial Suvilahti area in Helsinki over three days last summer, unveiled their first raft of acts for 2023 last month.

Set for 11-13 August, the line-up will include FKA Twigs, Caroline Polachek, Suede, Devo, Amyl & The Sniffers, Shygirl, Jockstrap and 070 Shake. Three-day tickets cost €225, with gold passes priced €345.

“The festival is shaping up really well,” Flow Festival creative director Tuomas Kallio tells IQ. “We are super-happy with some of the bookings for 2023. The effects of Covid, as well as geopolitical changes in Europe, affected international sales in 2022, so we are now looking forward to those numbers bouncing back in 2023 and welcoming even more visitors to Helsinki this August.

“Also, we are very excited to be able to use the festival area in the current, well-tested and iterated formula one more time. After this year, we will see some quite dramatic changes in our festival area, since it will begin to undergo drastic construction and developmental projects.

“Our 2022 was a successful return in numerous measures”

Kallio explains that a number of major production and technical changes are already in the works.

“Our biggest tent provider is new and the Main Stage structure will also change this year,” he says. “Otherwise our festival concept and vision remains the same it has been from the very beginning: to create a responsible high-quality and international festival, that is first and foremost a content-driven overall experience.”

The 2022 festival hosted more than 150 artists including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Gorillaz, Florence + the Machine, Burna Boy, Michael Kiwanuka, Jamie xx and Princess Nokia.

“Our 2022 was a successful return in numerous measures,” he says. “We made our sales record with a sold-out attendance of 90,000 and nearly 50,000 unique visitors during the three-day festival weekend. One of the absolute highlights was the new indoor art space we introduced at the festival area. Our festival is held at an old power plant area and has some amazing protected buildings from the beginning of the 20th century.”

Kallio opens up on his hopes and concerns regarding the wider festival market.

“There are festival and concert operators who are unfortunately ready to lose a lot of money to book certain acts”

“After Covid, a lot of artist tours have become dramatically shorter than before and thus, the competition even harder,” he says. “There are festival and concert operators who are unfortunately ready to lose a lot of money to book certain acts. This makes ever-raising artist fees even higher and, at times, unfeasible for a healthy festival market in Europe. A ‘multistage music lover’-based concept with a lot of various artists becomes financially harder compared to the years before Covid.”

In closing, Kallio stresses Flow’s commitment to retaining its status as a forerunner in festival sustainability, standing among the world’s first carbon-neutral festivals in its scale since 2009.

“The carbon footprint of Flow Festival Helsinki has been calculated and compensated for over a decade, but in 2021, this work was taken up a notch as a more extensive research project into the sustainability of the festival was launched in collaboration between Flow Festival ltd. and D-mat ltd,” he says.

“This research has, for the first time, captured the material footprint in addition to the carbon footprint of the festival and advanced the calculation of the carbon footprint to include indirect emissions related to the festival as widely as possible. This provides a more comprehensive view into the environmental impact of Flow Festival Helsinki than earlier, and presents the opportunity to reduce the environmental impacts holistically with new solutions targeting the key hotspots in terms of the festivalʼs sustainability.”

“A big part of sustainability for us is also to take into consideration the social side of it”

He continues: “A big part of sustainability for us is also to take into consideration the social side of it. This means promoting equality, safety, diversity, and accessibility. As an employer, we expect our entire staff, as well as our associates and distributors, to adhere to the same values. We also have developed an equality plan and a code of conduct that all our staff and subcontractors commit to following.

” We also participate in the European Keychange initiative. In 2022, approximately 55 % of the groups that performed at Flow had women and non-binary members. For some years, we have also worked with Startup Refugees, a non-profit voluntary network supporting refugees and immigrants with employment and entrepreneurship in Finland.

“All in all, we think creating a high-quality, comprehensive festival experience and working towards a more sustainable future can and should be mutually inclusive.”

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