127 000 people attended Pori Jazz 2024 festival
32 000 people attended the three main concerts of Pori Jazz at the Kirjurinluoto Concert Park. The program on Thursday, July 18th attracted 10 500 people. On Friday, July 19th some 12 000 people enjoyed the music and finally on Saturday, July 20th 9 500 people spent the day at the sunny Concert Park. Concerts at the Cafe Pori Jazz and the evening jam sessions at the Pori Theatre attracted some 18 000 visitors during the festival. This brought the total number of visitors to festival events with admission fee to 50 000.
In addition to the main concerts, Cafe Pori Jazz and the jam sessions, the festival once again offered an extensive admission free program over nine days from July 12th to 20th, with music in various venues around the city center and Kirjurinluoto Jazz Park. The entire festival program consisted of 106 concerts, of which more than 65% were free of charge.
The main concert area was well organized, and the audience enjoyed the music on three stages. This year it was clear to see that the audience moved between the stages more than in previous years.
”Although the attendance targets for this year were not met, Pori Jazz returned to the level of normal festival years. Last summer’s main attractions such as Robbie Williams, Sam Smith and Tom Jones brought an exceptionally large audience to Kirjurinluoto,” says Sampsa Jolma, CEO of Pori Jazz.
According to Sampsa Jolma, this festival year was also marked by challenges in booking artists. There were fewer main artists available for Pori Jazz than in previous years, and prices have risen. The level of festival production costs is now also significantly higher than before.
”Keeping the festival’s finances in balance requires hard work, but Pori Jazz is looking ahead with confidence. Plans for next summer’s festival are well in progress,” says Jolma.
Pori Jazz’s main concerts will take place for the 58th time between July 17th and 19th, 2025.