Pori Recoups 2005 Losses

Finland’s Pori Jazz recouped last year’s half-million euro (US$630,000) loss and made a little bit more on top, according to festival director Jyrke Kangas.

“We don’t have all the figures in yet,” Kangas told Pollstar two days after the July 15-23 event closed. “But we know we’ve covered what we lost last year and even look to have made a little profit on the last two years put together.”

Sting‘s headline appearance at Kirjurinluoto Arena July 22nd pulled 36,000 – almost half the nine-day event’s gross ticket sale – after Kanye West had done 18,000 in the same venue the previous day.

At euro 63 and euro 50 respectively, they were Pori’s dearest tickets and the two shows look to have done enough to leverage it toward a euro 500,000-plus profit.

The rest of the 75,000 sales came from the 200 or so smaller shows spread across a dozen of the city’s indoor venues.

Among the other international acts helping to make a financial ripple at the mouth of west-Finland’s Kokemäenjoki River were Roberta Flack, The Neville Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band, Cab Calloway III and His Cotton Club Revue, Irma Thomas, Don Johnson Big Band, The New York Voices, Carla Bley Big Band, James Taylor Quartet, Eva Dahlgren, and Three Ladies In Blues.

– John Gammon