Between 14th and 16th of August 2026, the sleepy Nordic-Baltic city of Helsinki burst into summery life. Every day, trams, trains, taxis all toppling with people – from teens to OG’s, marching with purpose towards the daunting backdrop of Suvilahti, an old power plant transformed into a giant stage for the weekend.

Architecturally, this clash between rigid function and playful form feels right for ; it matches a line-up that does a great job of walking a generational and linguistic tightrope, with the festival keen to show the best of Finnish talent next to bigger international acts. The space between stages, between vibes feels both inviting and spacious, means you’re never too far from a favourite act but you’re always close to something new.

Which was precisely my experience on day one. After a great breakfast reception at The Marski Hotel, we set off to visit the Kulttuuritalo (House of Culture) designed by Finnish great, Alvar Aalto in 1958, and this year was given UNESCO World Heritage status. And for good reason, too. The main hall feels like an amphitheatre inside a Rubik’s Cube, built to that exact effect. Aalto worked in rectangles and squares to engineer great acoustics while holding onto a feeling of intimacy. It’s a storied stage that had seen the likes of Hendrix, Led Zep, Duke Ellington, Queen and plenty more grace it. Interestingly, the building was a community project, with local Finns invited to contribute to the build of it, a fascinating connection between the country’s socialist roots and the role of music in the development of its progressive, cultural class.

We had a quick stopoff at the newly-renovated Train Factory, and we headed into the world of Flow. First up was , Finnish rapper-rockstar. The roar in the dusty pits below the stage makes the case for him better than any tagline could: around these parts, he’s exactly that. Crowds came in floods, the stage engulfed in flames, everybody singing their hearts out to tracks like ‘BLONDINA’ and ‘SKYLINE’.

Then, a little sojourn to the Heineken Backyard stage, which was like Flow’s little secret garden for the ravers and the wavers. , the Milanese DJ-duo, played a rocking set of their signature 80’s-inspired synth pop, mixed with welcome hits of baile funk – listen closely enough and you’ll hear cries of Ethiopian classics in the mix. This is their mandate: to find the common ground in people, places, and timelines in their music, and looking around at everybody, it’s clear plenty found home in the sprawling soundscapes of tracks like ‘Luna Manga’ and ‘Tigresa’.

Traversing across the festival, we ventured on the dreampop electronic stylings of Helsinki’s , which was luscious, floaty, hypnotic but focused throughout. The duo, Sandra Tervonen and Juuso Malin, are experienced musicians who’ve collaborated for years – and clearly feel most at home with each other. ‘Call For Help’ delights fans, with arms swinging and eyes glistening: it’s a fan favourite, and they know it.

Across the evening were fan favourites and but I was keener to check out , the inscrutable Irish trio who mix trip-hop with punk all done with a Dubliner’s lilt. The lead singer, known as Fatboy, moves a bit like Jagger, acts a bit like Tyler, and in moments, sounds a bit like N.E.R.D.-era Pharrell. High-pitched crooning collides with chaotic drum solos and stray warbles that dissolve into adolescent anecdotes. Bricknasty have got a great collective stage presence, and draw a good crowd, even this early on.

The best thing about festivals is stumbling upon new discoveries. And in this case, one of my favourites of the festival had to be , a Brazilian singer-songwriter, who sings exclusively in Portuguese. This was a suggestion from another journalist on the trip (shout out Alan). Ana and the band were out of this world. Literally. They played at the most impressive stage in Flow, the Balloon stage. It’s shaped like Saturn, it glows like a planet, and it houses its own orbit within it. Inside the stage is a spherical micro-stadium space. You could watch amateur theatre there, or a table tennis tournament. It’s an incredible little environment, and Ana and her band had people in Deep Space 9 with an astral mix of bossa nova, acid jazz, and classic rock. It was an absolute gem of a set, the first pearl I discovered in Flow’s swirling sea of sound.

Rolling into day two, we started with a visit to the great people at Nordic Music Partners and Fried Music. The former represent some of Finland’s most successful songwriting talent for the international market, and the latter are a creative hub for artists and producers, making music for major video game releases and more, some of which they gave us a sneak peek at, and it was fire. During the visit, we met some of the next up in Finland’s scene – the , a duo of Tomi Saario and Heviteemu. Saario is an award-winning, multi-platinum songwriter and guitarist who’s built an impressive string of high-streaming songs across Finland and Germany, where he was signed to Universal. Heviteemu is of similar stock, a multi-platinum producer and Finnish Grammy (Emma) nominated musician. Good Citizens is the mid-point of their musical tastes, a self-described mix of ”Finnish melancholy and international pop appeal”, and they’ve got their sights set on the biggest markets. Stay tuned.

Saturday at Flow was, undoubtedly, the big one. , Florence and the Machine, , , , and , : bruh.

We’ll start with , the Maryland-favourites who pulled a huge crowd to really get Flow’s biggest day going. Mega hits like ‘BLACKOUT’ opened a black hole in the middle of the crowd, jolly moshers releasing energy they’d been saving all weekend. The drama in the synths hit like a clarion call, faces shouting to the skies, before a strange bongo-like drum solo turned the whole thing tropical. That swing is the duality of Turnstile in a single track: soulful punk-rock, angsty but considered. ‘BLACKOUT’ comes off their critically-acclaimed third album ‘Glow On’, which won them three Grammys, so maybe that considered angst is the culmination of a journey, the conclusion of a thought. On-the-nose pop tracks like ‘NEVER ENOUGH’ provide a moment of levity. Lead singer Brendan Yates croons with the urgency of a person who knows they’re never making it, but runs for that bus anyway. There’s a millennial fatalism in these lyrics, a romanticism, that works very well for the many Gen Z’s in the crowd, perhaps finding a home in the doomed chase of a lost love, or a dream, or the bus. Because why the fuck not? Be delusional, no better day for it than a beautifully clear-skied day like Saturday 15th August was in Helsinki. It might never be enough, but we’re going to do it anyway. The kids agreed: they’ll be alright. The buzzy, Smiths-like riffs on ‘I CARE’ show Turnstile absolutely their age: students of their references, this is pure 1980s British indie. Throw New Order and the Human League in a blender with Sum 41 and you’ll get ‘I CARE’. Hearing it live, with a band who clearly love playing this one, you’re glad globalisation did its job meshing Maryland and Manchester to give us this little marvel of a track.

Following a little pass by the inimitable Todd Terje, walking right into him dropping ‘Inspector Norse’ before ‘Preben Goes to Acapulco’, two of my favourites from his 2014 LP (!) ‘It’s Album Time’, the focus was on Florence Welch and her machine doing what they do best. And yep: they absolutely did it. Barefoot on the stage, her command of the crowd was spectacular. She orchestrated with her kitschy, folky contralto which, hearing it live for the first time in a long time, you realise has a very soulful, Motown-esque inflections. She ran through plenty of the classics: ‘Never Let Me Go’, ;Shake It Out’, ‘You’ve Got The Love’ and of course, ‘Dog Days Are Over’.

After a quick food pitstop, it was Clipse time. And you better believe I was right in the mix for this. I hadn’t actually seen any of the ‘Let God Sort Em Out’ shows outside of a secret gig in Paris in 2025 just before it released, so I was excited for the full set. The typical archive footage dominated the giant screen – a mix of used fishscales, old family photos and Virginia lurkers. This is the Thornton brothers letting us into their dark, tangled internal world. The two appear on stage, engulfed in red, until ‘Chains and Whips’ starts ringing off. Pusha on the far left, Malice on the far right. Both brothers nimble and needle across the stage, each instinctively giving the other the space to deliver their piece. It’s an incredibly efficient performance, smoothly moving across the nu-classics on ‘Let God…’. The car chase cool of ‘P.O.V’ has hands waving and people jumping, but as we move back to 2002 for ‘What Happened To That Boy’ with Birdman, the crowd lose a bit of energy and appreciation for the older tracks, which is fine for me. As a day one fan, I was in a bubble of my own, cracking out to a group that’s of deep importance to me. But sliding back into a more present-tense Clipse with ‘M.T.B.T.T.F.’, the fun keys release the funk on the crowd and they get right back into it, ’cause shouting ”Mike Tyson Blow To The Face!” has a sticky, cartoonish quality that is very underrated for artists at this point in their career to still be able to find. It’s a standout track on a standout album, and the energy rewarded that.

From here they took us back to my favourite album of theirs, ‘Hell Hath No Fury’, with the bouncy, accordion-tinged ‘Momma I’m So Sorry’, which could easily pass as a B-side to anything from ‘Let God…’, such is its timeless, fresh sound. How Clipse have managed to remain timeless and to re-emerge after nearly 20 years with an album that could viably challenge their debut as the better project is really quite incredible. This is the value of being students, of being fans, of having taste. The Thornton brothers are a testament to always staying interested in your talent, recognising that without work and effort, it will fade. Which is why closing with ‘The Birds Don’t Sing’ – the John Legend feature which celebrates the lives of their late parents – is fitting. They sang in unison, asked the crowd to wave their hands, and the crowd obliged, recognising these greats have a body of work that warrants a vote by feet. If this is the last time they play in Finland, those in the Silver Arena at the heart of Flow Festival will certainly not forget it.

Coming into Sunday was bittersweet: it had been a great weekend of music, networking, and top Finnish hospitality. But the show must go on. And go on, it did. I started my final day at Flow with , the legendary group whose defining album ‘Heart of The Congos’ from 1977 still draws more than half a million streams a year. They took over the Balloon stage, and inside was a welcome riot of reggae and soul. They played classics like ‘Fisherman’ and ‘Open Up The Gate’ to a circle of fans bopping, weaving, waving and warbling their way through the set. The Congos were a critical clash with , but it was a chance I took: I managed to catch the very end of her set, and the Silver Arena was absolutely packed with keen fans, singing along to everybody’s favourite: I Follow Rivers. ‘Youth Novels’ was where I first became a Lykke Li fan, those Cudi remixes to ‘Little Bit’ which became a Blog Era-rapper favourite to remix, a bit like MGMT did. But based on the number of tracks I didn’t know, I’ve got a lot of listening to do.

I made a detour to the always-good at the Heineken Backyard stage, which is easily Flow’s most free-wheeling and fun. The DJ took the crowd on a Bedouin’s sonic journey from Sudani jazz to Afghan rock; he’s a real crate-digging cartographer, and the people’s happy feet agreed. The main man and Sunday’s closing act, , was the ideal name to wave goodbye to Flow for another year. Classics like ‘People Ain’t No Good’ force the crowd into some introspection, a song made more poignant by the state of the world, and who’s governing it. The bluesy riffs of ‘Jubilee Street’ pull impassioned singalongs, but ‘Red Right Hand’, the Peaky Blinders theme, is one Nick enjoyed delivering. High energy, with a real rockstar presence, it was a welcome tone shift in the setlist. The 2004 classic ‘O Children’ closes out the set, a song made all the more poignant by the loss of two of his sons. It’s a powerful rendition that, once again, against the backdrop of what’s happening in this warring world, poses a question: who loses most in one shaped by the powers we’re enabling? Though it strikes a much more sombre note than anything Flow served up all weekend, it’s a strong reminder that ultimately music is a tool, a vessel for meaning and meaning-making. Nick Cave showed us exactly what the medium can represent.

So much for the best-kept secret. Flow Festival 2026 was special from first act to last, and a huge thank you to the team at Music Finland and Flow at large for putting on one hell of a weekend.

See you next year.