* Marcia Carr and Helena Star at Flow Festival 2022 *

gimme a beat with babymonster

Flow Festival (commonly known as Flow) is an urban music and arts festival in Helsinki, Finland.

It was created by the Finnish music producer Tuomas Kallio and his friends from the Helsinki-based music collective Nuspirit Helsinki. Since 2004, the festival has been organized annually. Over the years the festival grew from 4000 visitors to 90'000. In 2007 the festival moved to Suvilahti, the former power plant that brings a special vibe to the whole event.

I've been following Flow for the while now, it caught my attention because of an impressive and well-balanced line-up, with loads of female artists, a great combination of known and less known artists and a variety of genres. And of course, I've seen some great photos (and recordings) of its surroundings and the atmosphere.

Back in 2019, after seeing some great acts performing, I decided that in 2020, I am going to pack my dancing shoes and voice recorder (usually my phone) and head to Helsinki. Flow seemed like a perfect festival to explore its *female factor* with my Gimme A Beat lenses. I was not only excited to attend a festival that I haven’t attended before but also to travel to Finland since I’d never been there.

But 2020 as well as 2021 had something else planned for us, so because of the pandemic, I had to wait until 2022 to finally experienced it.

But this was a festival definitely worth a wait. I knew that the line-up was great, but I was blown away by everything else: impeccable organisation, amazing crowds, a very kind and helpful press team and its perfect location. We were also blessed with perfect summer weather, warm and pleasant, but not heavy and too hot, exactly like our summers used to be.

In addition, I took some time before and after the festival to explore Helsinki and THAT was another great experience that I truly enjoyed. During the festival, I had a chance to dance a lot, and this was not only because I really needed it, as I didn’t have much of that during the pandemic, but it was also because there were so many great acts, especially DJs that I can’t imagine anyone being able to resist it.

Consequently, my review of the Flow Festival will feature 3 amazing female DJs: Marcia Carr, Helena Star and Barbara Boeing and one über talented singer-songwriter: Lxandra. And because there is so much material that I brought home, to my dear Gimme A Beats listeners, I will be sharing this in two radio shows, one happening tonight and another one in October.

In the meantime, you can also check my reviews for each day of Flow Festival 2022: day 1, day 2 and day 3, with some additional highlights on day 1 and day 2.

In tonight's Gimme A Beat (19.09.2022) you will hear the review of Flow Festival 2022, interviews with Marcia and Helena and selected DJ mixes showcasing their passion for music and their skills.

Kisses, Babymonster

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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries