BK Trouble For Finnish Promoter

Kalle Keskinen, the promoter who hit financial trouble a couple of months before he put on Guns N’ Roses in Helsinki June 5, may have his plea for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection stifled by a Finnish collection agency.

Teosto has the power to stop a promoter from operating if it can’t collect outstanding money, while the Finnish tax authority is also reportedly wanting to make Keskinen bankrupt.

Keskinen had his family’s financial backing to step up from being a local promoter in Seinäjoki, where he also ran a regional festival called Vauhtiajot that was like music event mixed with a motor sports rally. He has become something of a celebrity promoter and is regularly featured in the Finnish media.

He began bringing international acts to Finland, much to the amazement of many in the local business who couldn’t work out how he was paying top dollar. His shows were pulling in big crowds.

It appears as if the debts were stacking up as he lost money on Bon Jovi in June 2008, which ended up suing him for not letting them know about a sponsorship deal with a dairy firm that splashed the band’s name and image on yogurt pots.

There were further examples of his shows not being well-advertised, including incorrectly spelling artist names on posters.
Two 50 Cent shows in Helsinki’s 11,000-capacity Hartwall Arena also dropped money, while a Bryan Adams show on a 35,000-capacity site at Tampere did around 6,000.

Court papers show that on March 31, over two months before the Guns N’ Roses show, his company Speed Promotions had euro 5,000 in the bank and debts of more than euro 2 million.

Any hopes that the GNR show, which cost him $1.3 million according to Finnish music industry rumours, would come to the rescue were quickly dashed. Speed Promotion admitted the attendance at Kapyla, an 80,000-capacity Helsinki sports field, was about 17,000. Local eyewitness reports pitched it even lower.