A Positivus Way To Buck Trends

Latvia’s Positivus festival challenged the idea that Baltic festivals tend not to work by selling all 23,000 tickets for its second day.

It started in 2007 with a crowd of 3,000 per day and has shown steady growth while other Baltic festivals have struggled or fallen by the wayside.

The following year it tripled its crowd and promoter Girts Majors is having a serious look at making it a three-dayer in 2012.

Positivus press chief Liga Andžane believes it’s the atmosphere that attracts people to Positivus, although having a reputation for booking a strong total lineup is prompting many festivalgoers to buy tickets before the bill is announced.

The festival is also making its contribution to what more Scandinavian and Baltic music offices are beginning to refer to as the “northern hub,” which would have countries supporting each other in a region stretching from Oslo to Moscow.

This year the festival, at the seaside resort of Salacgriva, played host to six acts that have played at Estonia’s Tallinn Music Week.

Next year Positivus will also host a series of seminars for music business execs from the Baltics, Scandinavia and eastern Europe.

The festival attracted about 1,500 music fans from Estonia, with a further 1000 coming from outside Latvia.

The acts helping Positivus prove that Baltic festivals can work July 15-16 included Mark Ronson, Hurts, Editors, Röyksopp, and James.
The Tallinn Music Week stage had Mimicry, Nevesis, Aides, Badass Yuki, Junk Riot, and Kreatiivmootor.