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Steelfest
Steelfest Open Air is an annual black metal music festival located in Hyvinkää, Finland, 60 kilometres north of Helsinki. Founded by Jani Laine, the first edition occurred in 2012.
It traditionally took place over two days in May at the Villatehdas venue from 2012 to 2019 before being halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon its return, it became a four-day event in 2022 and a three-day event in 2023.
In recent years, the festival has become controversial over its frequent presence of National Socialist black metal bands.
Founder Jani Laine organised his first metal concert in 2008 to a small crowd. In 2012, Laine and his network of promoters put together the first Steelfest, held in the Villatehdas (Wool Factory) in Hyvinkää, Finland on 18 and 19 May. It featured bands such as Entombed, Goatmoon, Impaled Nazarene, Satanic Warmaster, The Crown and Taake. Laine estimates that the first edition of Steelfest lost €45,000, owing to the cost of factors such as stage management salaries and booking respectable airline flights for the bands.
In 2013, the festival attracted larger names such as Mayhem and Sodom while highlighting local Finnish bands including Horna, Satanic Warmaster and Goatmoon. Laine did not approve of every booking during the festival's early years, but four members of Steelfest's management team left in a negotiation settlement after 2014, and Laine, in his words, "assumed total command" of the festival beginning with the 2015 edition.
Dark Funeral, playing The Secrets of the Black Arts in its entirety, headlined 2015, with bands such as Nokturnal Mortum, Asphyx, Satanic Warmaster and Sargeist rounding out the lineup. Possessed were supposed to headline in 2016, but the band had to back out a few months before the festival, so Laine named Blasphemy, 1349, Gorgoroth and Graveland as headliners instead. It was the first Steelfest to sell out all tickets. The 2017 edition was headlined by Marduk – playing its 1996 album Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered in full, Peste Noire and Carpathian Forest. During a collaboration between Finnish black metal band Ride for Revenge and power electronics project Bizarre Uproar, a musician defecated on another performer, and the feces was thrown into the crowd.
Encouraged by the strong sales of Steelfest, Laine started a second smaller winter festival named SteelChaos in 2017, held in Helsinki proper at the Nosturi venue from 10 to 11 November. The first SteelChaos was headlined by Master's Hammer, Nifelheim and Deströyer 666.
Steelfest 2018 was headlined by Mortiis, Watain and Tormentor. In 2019, attendance increased to nearly 6,000 ticket holders from 55 different countries. Headliners were Marduk performing 1999's Panzer Division Marduk in full and Mysticum. It was the first year where the revenue earned from the festival was enough for Laine to pay back his debts from running previous editions at a loss.
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Steelfest
Steelfest Open Air is an annual black metal music festival located in Hyvinkää, Finland, 60 kilometres north of Helsinki. Founded by Jani Laine, the first edition occurred in 2012.
It traditionally took place over two days in May at the Villatehdas venue from 2012 to 2019 before being halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon its return, it became a four-day event in 2022 and a three-day event in 2023.
In recent years, the festival has become controversial over its frequent presence of National Socialist black metal bands.
Founder Jani Laine organised his first metal concert in 2008 to a small crowd. In 2012, Laine and his network of promoters put together the first Steelfest, held in the Villatehdas (Wool Factory) in Hyvinkää, Finland on 18 and 19 May. It featured bands such as Entombed, Goatmoon, Impaled Nazarene, Satanic Warmaster, The Crown and Taake. Laine estimates that the first edition of Steelfest lost €45,000, owing to the cost of factors such as stage management salaries and booking respectable airline flights for the bands.
In 2013, the festival attracted larger names such as Mayhem and Sodom while highlighting local Finnish bands including Horna, Satanic Warmaster and Goatmoon. Laine did not approve of every booking during the festival's early years, but four members of Steelfest's management team left in a negotiation settlement after 2014, and Laine, in his words, "assumed total command" of the festival beginning with the 2015 edition.
Dark Funeral, playing The Secrets of the Black Arts in its entirety, headlined 2015, with bands such as Nokturnal Mortum, Asphyx, Satanic Warmaster and Sargeist rounding out the lineup. Possessed were supposed to headline in 2016, but the band had to back out a few months before the festival, so Laine named Blasphemy, 1349, Gorgoroth and Graveland as headliners instead. It was the first Steelfest to sell out all tickets. The 2017 edition was headlined by Marduk – playing its 1996 album Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered in full, Peste Noire and Carpathian Forest. During a collaboration between Finnish black metal band Ride for Revenge and power electronics project Bizarre Uproar, a musician defecated on another performer, and the feces was thrown into the crowd.
Encouraged by the strong sales of Steelfest, Laine started a second smaller winter festival named SteelChaos in 2017, held in Helsinki proper at the Nosturi venue from 10 to 11 November. The first SteelChaos was headlined by Master's Hammer, Nifelheim and Deströyer 666.
Steelfest 2018 was headlined by Mortiis, Watain and Tormentor. In 2019, attendance increased to nearly 6,000 ticket holders from 55 different countries. Headliners were Marduk performing 1999's Panzer Division Marduk in full and Mysticum. It was the first year where the revenue earned from the festival was enough for Laine to pay back his debts from running previous editions at a loss.