Booker T. Jones, creator of the 1962 instrumental hit Green Onions.

If it's July then it must be time for Pori Jazz. This is the biggest rock/jazz festival that Finland has to offer, with around 150,00 visitors expected over the nine-day period starting on Saturday 11 July. Thankfully, they don’t all have to fit in one arena: there are a total of ten venues, with seven of these spread along a couple of hundred metres of the banks of the River Kokemäki, which runs though the town.

As you would expect from a festival that is now in its forty-fourth year, there is a full range of domestic and international performers on offer. On the main outdoor stage in Kirjurinluoto Arena the big names appear later in the week – Duffy, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Stanley Clarke, Booker T Jones, among others. But there is also a varied programme at the other venues too, from big-band extravaganzas in the massive LP44 tent, to adventurous combinations of experimental European and Finnish artists at the Ultra-Music Nights in the Old Cotton Mill, north of the river. The focus here this year is on France, with additional musicians from Chile, Denmark and beyond.

Accommodation in Pori is by now hard to come by, so you may need resort to the traditional festival visitors’ method and take your tent. Transport from Helsinki to the west coast is also a little challenging: the return trip by train coats around 70 euros and takes three hours, with a change in Tampere. There may be a few seats left on the direct commuter-airline connection to Pori, but it will cost you in the region of 200 euros with taxes. If you’re spending that much then maybe you should consider taking in the excellent Folk Festival 200 km up the coast, at Kaustinen, scheduled for the same week. But that, as they say, is another story!

Anthony Shaw - HT
Pori jazz 2009