Raba On The Rocks

Estonia’s Rabarock Festival’s comeback didn’t do as well as the organisers had hoped and the financial loss could leave next year’s event in doubt.

Festival chief Kristo Rajasaare told Pollstar the event needed to sell 8,000 two-day tickets to break even, but it did only a little more than half of that.

Rabarock has had financial problems since it started in 2005, but sponsors including SEB Bank and Jagermesiter have stuck with it in the hope the tide would turn.

The 2009 festival suffered on account of the global financial crisis. The fact the Estonian government upped the rate of VAT from 5 percent to 18 percent has made matters even worse.

In 2010 a further VAT increase to 20 percent was enough to convince Rajasaare and his Eesti Rockifestival company colleagues to miss a year, but now it seems the break hasn’t made a difference.

The 2012 event would appear to depend on commercial sponsors such as Jägermeister, Saku brewery, Pringles and Saaremaa Vodka being convinced it’s worth another shot.

Another of this year’s sponsors was the ministry of culture, but that was largely because the capital city of Tallinn is this year’s European Capital of Culture.

The acts playing what may have been the last Rabarock June 17-18 included Pendulum, Public Image Ltd, NoMeansNo, and national favourites Metsatöll.