Modern Sky Festival Descends on Helsinki, Finland this Weekend

Modern Sky music festival is continuing its aspiration of global domination as they bring their unique brand of mega-festival to Helsinki, Finland. From August 28-29 at the Hietalahti Shipyards, this made-in-China operation will be showcasing a mixture of Asian and Nordic artists, food, and other cultural fodder for a truly groundbreaking musical experience.

To be honest, this lineup looks a little better than what we’ve seen at their festival circuits around China. We would love to see Lust For Youth (pictured at top) play one of our Modern Sky or Strawberry Festivals in the near future. Other than this China-based performers like Nova Heart, Re-Tros, Hedgehog, and Tzusing will all be performing throughout the weekend.

Throwing festivals of this size in China instigates the obvious pitfalls, forcing organizers to place a special emphasis on low risk and dependable profit margins to ensure their survival. Just this past spring, all major music festivals were cancelled due to understandable anxieties over crowd safety stemming from Shanghai stampede tragedy that occurred on New Year’s Eve. These sort of un-rock n roll safety concerns can sometimes put a damper on the festival experience in our opinion. That being said, it’s very cool to see what Modern Sky are able to achieve in terms of programming in other countries with less government oversight.

On October 4, Modern Sky will be throwing their second festival in New York City, that will feature bands like Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, New Pants, and Gang of Four, just to name a few.

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Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com

Photos from the organizers, pitchfork.com