That’s right, we’re back at Flow, Helsinki’s premier music festival.
Words: Jake Hawkes.
We’re on the site of a brutalist power station, 50 metres away from a vegan taco stand, watching Finnish pop-rapper Isac Elliot set off so much pyro that it’s a wonder he hasn’t cooked the front row of the crowd like a rotisserie chicken – that’s right, we’re back at Flow, Helsinki’s premier music festival.
Alongside homegrown Finnish talent, Flow consistently books one of the most eclectic lineups of any major festival, with this year seeing the sledgehammer dance music of Animistic Beliefs rubbing shoulders with Alvvays’ jangly indie anthems and the singalong pop of Jessie Ware.
Friday sees Long Beach rapper Vince Staples deliver a rap masterclass on the festival’s second stage. It’s a long way from California to Helsinki, but the crowd pack out the tent and seem to know every word – one fan in the front row is even given the mic to rap a word-perfect rendition of ‘Big Fish’. The response to ‘Magic’ is the biggest of the entire set, with a level of chaos which the uber-cool Flow crowd don’t normally reach. What kind of chaos? Well, a woman in front of us is puffing four disposable vapes at once while screaming the words into her friend’s face, if that helps paint you a picture.
Over on the main stage, it’s a more sedate affair as RAYE gives a spellbinding performance in the festival’s sunset slot. Flanked by a full brass section dressed up to the nines (they’re even wearing bow ties, so it’s clearly a classy affair), she turns Helsinki into a Las Vegas lounge. Chatting with the crowd throughout, she seems genuinely amazed that people in Finland have heard of her, but if the response to her 7-minute-long new song ‘Genesis’ is anything to go by, she’s got thousands more fans here than she expected.
Meanwhile, IDLES are busy tearing the roof off of the festival’s silver arena stage. There’s the first unprompted moshpit of the weekend, crowdsurfers galore, and chants of “Fuck the King” are rebounding off of the sides of the tent. Singer Joe Talbot presides over it all, whipping the audience into a frenzy and leading chants of “Free Palestine”, he’s got them in the palm of his hand. “I need to tell you all that I’m completely in love with Vince Staples, and now I’m completely in love with Helsinki,” he says with a grin, to huge cheers from the exhausted, sweaty crowd.
With such a range of music on offer, it might seem hard to pin down a unifying Finnish music taste; an act or genre that everyone at Flow can agree is a must-see. This mystery is swiftly solved on Saturday as every single person we speak to is so excited for Fred Again.. that it feels like they might explode. Overmono put in a shift as the unofficial pre-party for the main event, with people spilling out of the tent on all sides as the Welsh duo whip through a punchy hour-long set which barely leaves room to breathe.
Finland may love Fred Again.., but it feels like he might love them almost as much. Opening his set with a video clip of his grandad speaking Finnish before text on screen claims that Flow Festival was the first show he booked in for the entire year; it’s clearly a reciprocated romance. Aside from these touches, it ticks all the standard Fred Again boxes – camera angles which show him frantically button-bashing and piano-playing, video clips of collaborators and samples, and of course, some absolute bangers. ‘Rumble’ is an early highlight, delivered from a small platform stage by the sound desk, but of course, it’s ‘Marea (we’ve lost dancing)’ and ‘Delilah (pull me out of this)’, which send the crowd absolutely ballistic. There’s talk of a trip to the 24-hour sauna after the set – not only a wonderfully Finnish kind of afterparty but also possibly the only way to recuperate after the biggest crowd Flow has ever seen for an artist.
Sunday proves that even Flow’s glamorous, dance-obsessed attendees have room in their hearts for some good old-fashioned indie rock. Alvvays pack out their tent, leading singalongs and getting the crowd dancing. Three albums in, they’ve got plenty of material to choose from, but it’s still world-class banger ‘Archie, Marry Me’, which sees the biggest response.
Headlining the night and closing the festival are Pulp. After Blur headlined last year’s Flow, it feels like someone on the booking team is playing a game of Britpop bingo, but if it means we get to hear Jarvis Cocker deliver a halting Finnish greeting before diving into ‘Disco 2000’, we’re not complaining. Two years into their reunion, the band have settled into a comfortable setlist of huge singles and slightly deeper cuts, and tonight seems to be no exception. ‘Babies’ and ‘This is Hardcore’ bump shoulders with ‘Weeds II’, Jarvis throws some shapes, and everyone revels in the joyful nostalgia of it all.
So far, so predictable, until Jarvis brings on Richard Hawley to help with ‘Sunrise’ (we can only assume the man’s visiting Finland to sample the sauna culture and local fast food chain Hesburger’s world-famous ‘mega burger’). From there, things settle back down with a rousing rendition of ‘Common People’, and then a NEW SONG! Well, sort of. Back in 2022, Jarvis and Richard debuted ‘A Sunset’, and Flow will go down in history as the first place it was given the full band treatment. It’s a lowkey addition musically, but it turns the set into something genuinely special. Accompanying visuals show a sun slowly disappearing below the horizon, with Jarvis watching it along with the crowd after the song finishes. “It’s going, it’s going,” he says, motioning for the crowd to be patient. “It’s supposed to go black, for fuck’s sake! Oh well, ta-ra.”
And so the metaphorical sun sets on another year of Flow Festival. It may be slightly more out of the way than Reading & Leeds or Glastonbury, but it’s a genuinely unique experience that’s well worth trying. Great food, great bands, friendly people, and even some modern art in a disused gas building – we’ll see you in the sauna.
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