Flow Festival in Helsinki, Finland review: Janelle Monae, Raye, Halsey and Jessie Ware shine
As we glide down the runway at Helsinki airport, I don’t know what to expect of my destination. Indeed, my knowledge of Finland is somewhat limited to a series of cutesy caricatures: Father Christmas, saunas, and of course, the Moomins. As we step out into our first view of the city, I am stunned by the harshness of the striking skyline, and the brutalism of it all.
I’m here for Flow Festival, a three day music and culture event that wasn’t previously (I am ashamed to confess) on this reviewer’s radar. It should have been.
Now in its 20th year, Flow Festival has grown from a small club event to one of the most respected celebrations of music and culture in the Nordic regions. Based in Suvilhati, the city’s former industrial district, the site feels strikingly different to the leafy green rural idyls of festivals at home: an old power plant and gas holders loom over us with an urban and post-industrial coolness.
The line-up is eclectic to say the least, very much reflecting the festival’s diversity mission to create an inclusive community. Within moments of arriving, we have seen a local group of dads-turn-rappers jamming on one stage, a gaggle of rock bikers riffing on another, and a clarinetist performing absurdist contemporary classical in a tent.
But this isn’t just a stage for brilliant local talents: at Flow, you will find some of the biggest names in pop – and we are treated to a series of queer icons over the long weekend.
We lift off with a stunning performance by our rising queen, Raye, who promises us a series of rousing tracks from her discography with a twist – a series of increasingly dramatic endings. The set is almost chameleonesque, the songstress’s timeless aesthetics calling back to the glamour of Marilyn Monroe, but offering the vulnerability and feeling of an Amy Winehouse performance. She takes us on a journey from sad ballads like ‘Ice Cream Man’ that have the crowd crying, to a heavy dance mix of ‘You Don’t Know Me’ that seconds later has them jumping with hands in the air. Raye chats throughout: ‘I know I talk too much’, she laughs, charming and immediately likable, like the cool girl who lives next door that you desperately want to be your new best friend. We leave the stage with only two words on our lips: that voice!
Next up, American alt-pop-rocker Halsey performs a powerful set of hits that are a slap around the face and have the crowd raging with her. After catapulting to fame with Chainsmoker’s hit ‘Closer’ in 2016, the singer reveals that she has had three challenging years, and a guitar heavy, high energy rendition of her smash hit reflects her tumultuous feelings as she returns to the festival circuit. There is a striking dissonance to a Halsey performance: styled like an elfin doll, her delicate, fragile demeanour is juxtaposed with a ferocious energy and fire, with pounding renditions of ‘Nightmare’, ‘Bad At Love’ and more.
Friday night culminates with the sensational Janelle Monae, and hosting the midnight slot, she knows the assignment. She promises to take the crowd to a new church, a goddess emerging in a fantastic floral garment as though she has just stepped out of the Garden of Eden. The performance is a tour de force with Monae barely taking a moment to breathe, smashing through a set list of hits: ‘Float’, ‘Champagne Shit’ and ‘Django Jane.’ The superstar never ceases to amaze with her talents: a soulful vocalist; a powerful rapper; a feisty fashionista – a Monae costume change never fails to drop jaws. Perhaps most surprising, however, is her dancing: an extended mix of ‘Make Me Feel’ showcases one of the most flawless routines that is up there with the best dancers in music history: Prince; Beyonce and Janet Jackson. Her set culminates with a moving rally to the crowd: ‘Thank you for fighting for the LGBT community across the world. Thank you for protecting us in the name of love.’ As pioneers go, Monae is one at who’s altar we should all worship.
From the realm of RnB and soul, Saturday takes us to an artist more at home in the Nordic regions, Aurora, who arrives on stage as a literal ray of sunshine, donning a fabulous festival head-dress. This is a high concept set – striking political visuals are combined with a voice like a thousand ethereal choirs and an army of drums to produce a performance that is compelling and mesmeric. Aurora is an earth mother, whose primal screams pleaded to the audience to act for Palestine; for Congo; for Mother Earth and for one another. Moments of vulnerability, such as ‘Runaway’, shift to rage with ‘The Blade’ but end on a note of hope with ‘Giving Into the Love.’ Aurora possesses a trait of many of the most brilliant conceptual performers in history like Kate Bush and Bjork: to bare her soul onstage whilst being utterly unknowable. You cannot help but want to act as she urges ‘We have one chance. Just do it!’
The Finnish are a welcoming people and queerness is encouraged at Flow. After an afterparty at local LGBT+ venue Don’t Tell Mama on Saturday night – a nightclub that boasts the cool grubbiness and fresh playlists up there with the best of queer Europe – mother of the gays, Jessie Ware, is the perfect tonic for a sexy sunset Sunday afternoon set. Once again, we are taken back to ‘The Pearl’, where Ware plays the matriarch of the club in a slick white tuxedo-esque number that is matched by her quintessential charismatic charm. It may be the more relaxed family festival day, the crowd lazing during the golden hour, but Mother offers us a megamix of disco hits ‘Ooh La La’, ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’ and more, that cement her as one of the divas of our time. Of course, no diva set should end without a rousing rendition of ‘Believe’ by Cher that has everybody emoting along. The gays need a bit of drama, and Ware gave us exactly the melodrama we were hungry for.
But if – unlike this pop-obsessed reviewer – the queens of gay music are not your thing, don’t fear. Flow offered more than one writer could possibly capture: the political folk of haunting songstress PJ Harvey; the bumping basslines and high energy of a Fred again.. set; the swagger and punch of rapper Vince Staples, and a Sunday headline performance by the iconic Pulp.
And Helsinki itself offers more than just music. We are treated to an unforgettable immersive Michelin eating experience – ‘The Room’, celebrating local chef Kozeen; a tour around impressive galleries, museums and the library that are up there with the best that London has to offer; and trips to saunas and seapools that are the perfect morning remedy for that post-festival hangover.
This festival is a celebration of community and culture: attentive crowds with cameras in pockets who listen carefully and really feel the music. The people are mannered, the crowds patient with one another, offering space and fostering accessibility. I have never been to a festival that so preaches sustainability but whose people also absolutely practice what they preach. Flow is not just a festival, but almost a movement of what the utopia could be – which makes sense, what with Finland being named the happiest country in the world.
So if, next summer, you fancy an adventure into the unknown, this may well be the adventure for you. With Finland having so much to offer and a festival that will go down as one of my favourites of all time, I urge you: put your phone away, immerse yourself and go with the Flow.
Flow Festival Helsinki will return next year between the 8-10 August 2025 with super early bird tickets available now at https://www.flowfestival.com/en/.
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