Ruisrock Stands Firm

Too much traffic from big-name international acts has dampened the Finnish festival business, but Ruisrock appears to have held its ground fairly well and pulled 67,000 across three days.

Two years ago Provinssirock Festival promoter Juha Koivisto warned of the danger, and Ankkarock production manager Mikko Niemala echoed that warning when his festival threw in the towel after the 2010 edition.

The Ruisrock numbers were about 4,000 down on its usual average. It smashed its attendance record by doing 92,000 for its 40th anniversary edition in 2009, but in recent years the crowd size has hovered just above the 70,000 mark.

The upside was the opening day crowd of 24,000 was one of the biggest in the last decade.

Ruisrock promoter Juhani Merimaa said the numbers were higher than his early expectations and that he was particularly pleased with the crowd feedback.

The acts helping Ruisrock stand its ground July 8-10 included The Prodigy, Manu Chao, Fleet Foxes, Anna Calvi and Paramore.