(Originally published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland)
I expected a very organised weekend just as my two weeks in Finland so far have been well organised. Yet the artists who did actually play at the music event, Flow Festival, had to fight against a tide of problems.
Tears stream at not-so-Finnish festival
Kanye's blonde horde, "without you there can be no me," he said about his audience, but I think he was just thanking all of his fair fans (Photo: Alistair Anderson)Kanye's blonde horde, "without you there can be no me," he said about his audience, but I think he was just thanking all of his fair fans (Photo: Alistair Anderson)
Many people will remember the festival for the hip hop star who cried in front of one of the more reserved crowds on his tour schedule, however. Before I can speak about Kanye West's very strong performance, I must get to the mess around the weekend's events.
Flow Festival is an annual weekend of live music in Helsinki, Finland. It marks the end of summer for much of the youth, which is why the first problem in my list, holds even more weight in my opinion. Never mind that the bands who signed up for the festival were actually not that impressive on paper, the prices of food, water and alcohol; the things that keep festival goers interested were disgraceful.
I come from South Africa, where beers are about half the price of beers in Finland, but people earn about half of what Finns earn, but to charge anyone 7 euros for a drink is disgusting.
I made other plans so that I could enjoy my festival. Unfortunately, once I had managed myself around the drink and chow challenge, I heard that popular Swedish singer, Lykke Li, had pulled out of the festival, because she had fallen ill suddenly. This meant that Iron and Wine played a longer set - which turned out to be one of the strongest sets I had seen from any bands in a couple of years, so I was happy. Nevertheless, Flow must take some blame as there had been rumours of Lykke Li not showing up because of "over- touring". Flow knew one of their headliners could pull out and yet they had no back up plan; very poor for a festival which is gaining praise in central europe.
It was pleasing then that Empire of the Sun gave a solid performance. I am not a fan of the band but their elaborate Japanese Science Fiction set up, akin to Final Fantasy XIII, X, XI and so on, was interesting.
They were memorable on a night that also featured the improving US band, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
At least the headlining hip hop artist, Kanye West, did not falter. Q-Tip, a rapper with far more experience, but maybe fewer fans under 35 years of age, pulled out on Friday. He was replaced by MF Doom, a sometimes revered hip hopper, but one Finn I spoke to said he was somewhat disappointing.
I was amazed then at how fresh and coordinated Mr West was. He started 45 minutes late, which meant he ran into British musical maestro, James Blake's set, for which I blame the organisers again. Nevertheless, Kanye played for just over two hours, in a multiple act system, featuring stunning ballerinas and an awesome backdrop of twisted images.
Most shocking for many people was that he cried during the final couple of songs, including his letter to his mother, who he lost a few years ago. It was uncanny to see a crowd of blonde women, who had been quite rigid throughout the bands' performances, until Kanye showed up, balling their eyes out too.
Kanye also mentioned something about how the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the US showed anything was possible. The Obama presidency has been a bit dull for me lately but Kanye was not. He played all of his hits and some other tracks and he really believed in himself.
Hopefully Flow will move in an organised manner next year, however, so that other singers can impress too.
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