Ville Valo or David Bowie: who is topping the bill at Provinssirock?
H.I.M., The Rasmus, and Nightwish not guilty of overexposure at Finnish summer rock events
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By Jarkko Jokelainen
If in the old days you could measure the hottest names on the summer rock festival calendar by the number of gigs they had lined up, today the reverse seems to be true: the rule looks to be that the fewer the dates, the more popular the artist.
This new state of affairs is a product of the breakthrough onto the international stage of a number of Finnish rock bands. The popularity won abroad has further bolstered these outfits' position in the domestic market, and heavy touring schedules elsewhere keep the bands away from Finnish stages.
The love-metal band H.I.M. have always been sparing in their number of gigs in Finland, and now their example is being followed by The Rasmus and Nightwish.
Nightwish were seen just over a week ago at the Tampere Sauna Open Air Festival, and in July the band has dates at Ruisrock in Turku and the Tuska Festival in Helsinki. The Rasmus will also be on the bill at Ruisrock and at Ankkarock in Vantaa. H.I.M. will be making just the one appearance in Finland this summer: on Saturday evening at Provinssirock in Seinäjoki.
The albums of all three of these bands are among the biggest-selling CDs in Finland, and with just a handful of gigs at home each year, the acts easily emerge at the very top of the festival promoters' summer wish-lists. In this way, the Finnish acts once seen as warm-up bands are now to be taken very seriously as headliners alongside the international star imports.
Provinssirock is a case in point. "Yes, Ville Valo has been lifted up there alongside David Bowie in our marketing", says Juha Koivisto, executive manager of the annual Provinssirock event.
"All the same, H.I.M. are still something of a isolated case, even if Nightwish and The Rasmus are both coming up fast on the rails."
The last time Ville Valo and H.I.M. played in front of a Finnish audience was in December, at the band's now traditional New Year's Eve club gig at Tavastia in Helsinki. Considering that Tavastia is a venue that holds not many more than 700, in practice the band's large domestic following has had to wait since last year's Ruisrock and Ankkarock events, and this fact shows up clearly in demand for tickets to the Seinäjoki festival.
"Yes, I'd have to admit that advance sales for Saturday have been clearly the briskest of the weekend. H.I.M. were on the bill here four years ago and even then there was a certain feeding-frenzy in the air, but now they are an even bigger draw", says Koivisto.
"One new development is that we've had a good many enquiries from abroad, from Central Europe and Russia", adds Koivisto with a mixture of delight and astonishment. "For instance, there's one Irish family that intend to fly over to Helsinki, rent a car and drive up to Seinäjoki, just to see H.I.M. This is a nice new phenomenon: Finnish bands pulling in fans from abroad."
This also means something else: it is not just here at home that these Finnish artists are being billed in the same size of lettering as foreign stars.
"No, they are headlining abroad, too", says Juhani Merimaa, the man behind Ruisrock and Ankkarock. "H.I.M., Nightwish and The Rasmus are all in big demand on the European festival circuit."
For example, Ville Valo and company have already been to festivals in the UK, Ireland, Italy, and Holland this summer. Tonight they will be performing - and headlining on the main stage - at the opening day of Sweden's largest rock event, Hultsfred.
The Rasmus, currently enjoying their breakthrough summer, have an even more exhausting European schedule. There are festival gigs marked in for practically every weekend, including some annual classics like Germany's Rock im Park/Rock am Ring, Pinkpop in The Netherlands, Festimad in Spain, and the Reading Festival in England at the end of August.
The situation has inevitably hoisted the cost of booking any of these front-line Finnish bands onto a new plane.
"We're talking headliner tariffs; really pretty big sums", is all Koivisto will divulge. "But then again there is plenty of justification for their charging this sort of money, based on the demand. Nobody has gone out and asked for completely ridiculous fees."
"The price naturally has a direct correlation with availability", says Merimaa. "The interest drummed up by these bands is quite different from those who are gigging all over the place every week of the summer."
"For the price of one Finnish headliner band today, we could have put together the entire Ankkarock programme ten years ago", laughs Merimaa.
Things have not got vicious and bloody in the competition for top Finnish acts, for the simple reason that only a few of the bigger festivals can afford to book them nowadays.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 18.6.2004
Translator's Note: As should be apparent from the date above, this article was published in the print paper on the morning of the first day of this year's Provinssirock. Friday's show was kicked off at 19.15 by Suburban Tribe, and among the artists appearing were Black Eyed Peas (USA), Exodus (USA), and The Roots (USA), and Finnish acts Tehosekoitin, Timo Rautiainen, and The Crash. H.I.M. headlined on the main stage on Saturday, with Finnish supporting acts including Jonna Tervomaa and Egotrippi, plus The Hives (Sweden), Air (France), and Scissor Sisters (USA). Saturday's attendance of 26,000 set a new one-day record for the event. Sunday's show was wrapped up on the main stage by David Bowie, and among the other acts were Finnish veterans Neljä Ruusua, thrash-metal specialists Testament (USA), and club music exponents Groove Armada from the UK.
If in the old days you could measure the hottest names on the summer rock festival calendar by the number of gigs they had lined up, today the reverse seems to be true: the rule looks to be that the fewer the dates, the more popular the artist.
This new state of affairs is a product of the breakthrough onto the international stage of a number of Finnish rock bands. The popularity won abroad has further bolstered these outfits' position in the domestic market, and heavy touring schedules elsewhere keep the bands away from Finnish stages.
The love-metal band H.I.M. have always been sparing in their number of gigs in Finland, and now their example is being followed by The Rasmus and Nightwish.
Nightwish were seen just over a week ago at the Tampere Sauna Open Air Festival, and in July the band has dates at Ruisrock in Turku and the Tuska Festival in Helsinki. The Rasmus will also be on the bill at Ruisrock and at Ankkarock in Vantaa. H.I.M. will be making just the one appearance in Finland this summer: on Saturday evening at Provinssirock in Seinäjoki.
The albums of all three of these bands are among the biggest-selling CDs in Finland, and with just a handful of gigs at home each year, the acts easily emerge at the very top of the festival promoters' summer wish-lists. In this way, the Finnish acts once seen as warm-up bands are now to be taken very seriously as headliners alongside the international star imports.
Provinssirock is a case in point. "Yes, Ville Valo has been lifted up there alongside David Bowie in our marketing", says Juha Koivisto, executive manager of the annual Provinssirock event.
"All the same, H.I.M. are still something of a isolated case, even if Nightwish and The Rasmus are both coming up fast on the rails."
The last time Ville Valo and H.I.M. played in front of a Finnish audience was in December, at the band's now traditional New Year's Eve club gig at Tavastia in Helsinki. Considering that Tavastia is a venue that holds not many more than 700, in practice the band's large domestic following has had to wait since last year's Ruisrock and Ankkarock events, and this fact shows up clearly in demand for tickets to the Seinäjoki festival.
"Yes, I'd have to admit that advance sales for Saturday have been clearly the briskest of the weekend. H.I.M. were on the bill here four years ago and even then there was a certain feeding-frenzy in the air, but now they are an even bigger draw", says Koivisto.
"One new development is that we've had a good many enquiries from abroad, from Central Europe and Russia", adds Koivisto with a mixture of delight and astonishment. "For instance, there's one Irish family that intend to fly over to Helsinki, rent a car and drive up to Seinäjoki, just to see H.I.M. This is a nice new phenomenon: Finnish bands pulling in fans from abroad."
This also means something else: it is not just here at home that these Finnish artists are being billed in the same size of lettering as foreign stars.
"No, they are headlining abroad, too", says Juhani Merimaa, the man behind Ruisrock and Ankkarock. "H.I.M., Nightwish and The Rasmus are all in big demand on the European festival circuit."
For example, Ville Valo and company have already been to festivals in the UK, Ireland, Italy, and Holland this summer. Tonight they will be performing - and headlining on the main stage - at the opening day of Sweden's largest rock event, Hultsfred.
The Rasmus, currently enjoying their breakthrough summer, have an even more exhausting European schedule. There are festival gigs marked in for practically every weekend, including some annual classics like Germany's Rock im Park/Rock am Ring, Pinkpop in The Netherlands, Festimad in Spain, and the Reading Festival in England at the end of August.
The situation has inevitably hoisted the cost of booking any of these front-line Finnish bands onto a new plane.
"We're talking headliner tariffs; really pretty big sums", is all Koivisto will divulge. "But then again there is plenty of justification for their charging this sort of money, based on the demand. Nobody has gone out and asked for completely ridiculous fees."
"The price naturally has a direct correlation with availability", says Merimaa. "The interest drummed up by these bands is quite different from those who are gigging all over the place every week of the summer."
"For the price of one Finnish headliner band today, we could have put together the entire Ankkarock programme ten years ago", laughs Merimaa.
Things have not got vicious and bloody in the competition for top Finnish acts, for the simple reason that only a few of the bigger festivals can afford to book them nowadays.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 18.6.2004
Translator's Note: As should be apparent from the date above, this article was published in the print paper on the morning of the first day of this year's Provinssirock. Friday's show was kicked off at 19.15 by Suburban Tribe, and among the artists appearing were Black Eyed Peas (USA), Exodus (USA), and The Roots (USA), and Finnish acts Tehosekoitin, Timo Rautiainen, and The Crash. H.I.M. headlined on the main stage on Saturday, with Finnish supporting acts including Jonna Tervomaa and Egotrippi, plus The Hives (Sweden), Air (France), and Scissor Sisters (USA). Saturday's attendance of 26,000 set a new one-day record for the event. Sunday's show was wrapped up on the main stage by David Bowie, and among the other acts were Finnish veterans Neljä Ruusua, thrash-metal specialists Testament (USA), and club music exponents Groove Armada from the UK.
JARKKO JOKELAINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jarkko.jokelainen@hs.fi