People Are Short Of Money

Numbers were down at this year’s Provinssirock Festival (“people’s festival”) in Finland because the global recession is hitting the market hard, according to promoter Juha Koivisto.

He didn’t expect to pull as big a crowd as the 75,000-plus that turned up for last year’s 30th anniversary event, the first sellout in the festival’s history. He had hoped this year’s three-day gathering would attract more than an average of 17,500 people per day.

“We had lowered our expectations from last year but even so it was a little disappointing. We had noticed that we weren’t selling as many three-day tickets as before, but bad weather in the week before the festival meant the walk-up was also slow,” Koivisto told Pollstar. He made no secret of the fact that he and the city of Seinäjoki – which funds the event – would have been happier with another 2,000 people per day.

Koivisto said the damage done by the global financial situation and the cold, wet weather was compounded by a June 14 public transport strike that saw the final day’s crowd drop to 14,000.

“There was also some strong competition that night because Metallica had a sold-out show in Helsinki’s Hartwall Arena,” Koivisto explained.

The international acts on the June 12-14 bill included Manowar, Nick Cave & Bad Seeds, and The Ting Tings. The traditionally strong local lineup was headed by The Crash, Von Hertzen Brothers, Children Of Bodom, and Vesa-Matti Loiri.