Provinssirock Celebrates With Sellout

Finland’s Provinssirock festival celebrated a landmark anniversary by selling out for the first time in its 30-year history.

"All tickets had gone three days before the festival and we had 25,000 punters per day," event organiser Juha Koivisto told Pollstar the night after the Saturday crowd enjoyed a huge fireworks display to celebrate the Finnish festival’s birthday June 13-15.

The sellout party comes a year after Provinssirock, which is near the east coast at Seinajoki, attracted a three-day crowd that barely scraped past the 60,000 mark.

Koivisto blamed the attendance on the high number of stadium-sized acts visiting Finland in 2007 and new festivals being organised by "young promoters who are trying their luck."

Some of the new events were over-ambitious and tanked – one because of poor ticket sales and another because organisers failed to get a license – and the market might be shifting back toward more trusted ground.

That could become clearer after Ruisrock (July 4-6), which was taken over by Helsinki Tavastia Club owner Juhani Merimaa seven years ago. It has been revitalised to the point that it’s close to challenging Provinssirock as Finland’s biggest outdoor fest.

Foo Fighters, Coheed & Cambria, Dinosaur Jr., Linkin Park, Danko Jones, Billy Talent, Paramore, Justice, Serj Tankian, The Do, and various Finnish acts were among those with invitations to the party.