Music | The millennial festival Sideways shows that you can listen to raucous grunge with a glass of wine in your hand

To the neighbor the sounds of the Helsinki City Festival set up on the grounds echo when you move from the ticket control to the festival area.

The rock band Luukas Oja, performing for the first time at Sideways, starts his gig I want everything – song. The lyrics mention a band that will be playing on the neighboring plot in a couple of hours his comeback gig.

I dug out the worn Favorites

whose covers Nylon Beat

And Maija and Gimmel and Avril Lavigne

I belong to the same caste

Luukas Oja hardly makes it to the paper pages of youth magazines anymore, but his unadorned guitar rock and immediate energy have elevated the band to one of the most interesting new names in Finnish rock in a few years.

Sideways has profiled itself as a festival for music diggers. In Helsingin Sanomat, it has been described as uniting music fans of different age groups and, on the other hand, being aimed above all at those who have already seen their favorites 15 years ago.

I run into a friend who has come to Sideways for a scouting visit. The purpose is to find out whose club gigs you should go to at the end of the year. Someone talks about middle-aged parties while walking by.

Examining the selection of artists, it is clear that Sideways is also trying to attract young adults. Louie Blue in 2022, Ege Zulu in 2023 and this year Emma & Matilda, Joalin and Kuumaa are popular with generation z, i.e. those born after around 1997.

However, the average festival visitor is a millennial. Sideways is probably the festival that few 18-year-olds want to spend their summer work money on. Here we sip drinks, act businesslike and dub classic movies in the spirit of karaoke.

First on the day of the festival, Thursday, there were 5,000 visitors and on Friday 8,000. Johannes Kinnusen according to Saturday, Friday’s readings are expected. With this year’s arrangements, the area’s capacity is a maximum of 9,000 people per day.

Kinnunen states that they would have liked more people on Thursday, but on Friday the crowd was as expected. The performances of two artists had to be canceled at short notice – from Thursday Chelsea Wolfe and from Saturday Ladytron.

Sideways the audience, regardless of age, surprises with its exceptionally broad musical taste. You can see it on festival Friday.

Yona thanks to a solid fan base, the artist can take long breaks and dance without fear of losing the audience’s attention. Yes makes even the audience’s balls spin.

One of Friday’s most interesting artists has performed in Finland for the first time Grace Cummings. The Australian folk musician organized an intimate gig in the darkness of the Basement stage, and more and more people poured into the audience throughout the gig.

The singer’s powerful and rough voice would fill any space. Sometimes Cummings is on stage alone, sometimes with his guitarist Louis King’s accompanied by The simplified composition and storytelling are reminiscent by Joni Mitchell and First Aid Kit.

The main stage the Irish post-punk band Fontaines DC, the long-standing Californian grunge band L7 and the British ensemble Jungle, which has become an international phenomenon, take over in turn.

Fontaines DC makes the sunny early evening feel like the festival is happening in another time and place. The band’s music and habitus are channeled from the 1990s, and the ensemble transports the audience far from the Helsinki parking lot.

L7 shows right away in its first seconds that during the next hour nothing half woolly will be seen or heard. The band rambles forward with steady energy, curses in between spikes and forgives the fact that the lyrics are sometimes challenging to understand.

“We missed you Finland, you’re a classy country!” shouts the guitarist-singer wearing sunglasses Suzanne Gardner.

Classy indeed, at least based on this festival – while L7 is blaring out with electric guitars and crotch positions, the audience is drinking rosé. It’s going to take a lot further.

I would appreciate it the slot is on the last performer on the main stage, Jungle. Driving the outdoor platforms has been tough, even though Kuumaa has softened the asphalt. Jungle’s dance music combining soul, electronic soul and funk brings hits to your summer evenings. Heavy, California -song reminds me of the American disco band Chic in the 1970s.

In particular, you would like to hear Friday’s foreign reinforcements at club gigs instead of a 15-degree parking lot. Sideways Friday leaves you hoping for a sweatier atmosphere.