Festival year 2019
Almost a perfect festival – one might describe Pori Jazz 2019 as such. Two of the main concerts at the Kirjurinluoto Concert Park were sold out as 27 000 people attended the festival both on Friday and Saturday. The main concert on Thursday attracted some 15 000 people. The total amount of 69 000 people attending the main concerts was also a new record for the three main concerts. Last time a main concert was sold out 11 years ago.
In 2019 the venue capacity was set to 27 000 in order to ensure high quality services. This proved out to be a good decision as major congestions were avoided throughout the entire venue in spite of the record-breaking audience. The artists performing at the festival included among others Toto, Christina Aguilera, Stray Cats, Melody Gardot, Snarky Puppy, Archie Shepp and Ron Carter. The Ted Curson Award went to saxophonist Lisa Fredriksson and drummer Okko Saastamoinen was awarded as the rising talent.
When the main concert audience and admission free festival area attendance at the Jazz Park were counted together the total admission number for the festival is 349 518. With this staggering amount Pori Jazz was the largest festival in Finland in summer 2019.
