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Picture on the cover: Tony Öhberg for Finland Today
Pictures: Annija Raga
HYVINKÄÄ
It’s Friday. The hottest day this year in Finland, and one of the biggest music events of this summer has started. It’s time to travel by bus for Rockfest 2019 in the southern city of Hyvinkää, located about 60 kilometers from Helsinki at an airfield, which once served as the main airport in the country after the Second World War.
The runway will serve as a thunderous venue for one of the hardest heavy metal festivals this summer. The attendants at the three-day festival will witness some of the most popular names in metal and rock music, bands like Slipknot, Disturbed, In Flames, Def Leppard, Ugly Kid Joe, Kiss and others.
On Friday, the spotlight was on Slipknot, and, judging by the amount of Slipknot T-shirts worn by the people waiting for the bus, one could see that everything’s alright with the fan base for Slipknot in Finland.
Unfortunately, the festival bus was late and the hype about the festival was a bit down. But the driver was smiling and being cheerful, so slowly people forgot about the time and started getting ready to enjoy this celebration of rock ‘n’ roll and metal.
When arriving at the festival area, the vibe was totally different—everyone seemed relaxed and way more talkative than normally. Smiles everywhere and conversations about outstanding outfits, music and the heat. Like some of the patrons said: “Finns are this happy on two occasions: when we win the world hockey championship and at festivals.”
