Among the oldest music festivals in the world, Finland’s Pori Jazz Festival has been staged each year since 1966. The majority of the festival takes place on Kirjurinluoto park island in the heart of the coastal city and attracts artists from around the world. Technical provider for the event, leading rental company Aku’s Factory Oy, provided 2019’s audio support, which included multiple DiGiCo consoles for this event’s main stage.

This year’s main stage headliners were Stray Cats, Christina Aguilera and Toto, with popular local artists including contemporary singer-songwriter J Karjalainen, and global artists such as world music singer-songwriter, actor and activist Angélique Kidjo and jazz legend, saxophonist Archie Shepp, also gracing its stages.

House consoles for the main stage were a DiGiCo SD10 and SD12 for FOH and an SD10 for monitors, plus an SD-Rack with 32-bit Stadius I/O cards. Guest consoles also included an SD9 and SD5.

‘The majority of performances on the main stage used DiGiCo consoles,’ says FOH engineer Jorma Tikka from DiGiCo’s Finnish distributor, Audico, which supplies consoles and provides support to Aku’s Factory Oy and who has been working on the festival’s main stage since 1992.

‘Typically, guest engineers who come here are demanding and technically knowledgeable. DiGiCo consoles have been the first choice of console for most of the engineers when we look at the technical riders. As always, the general festival situation and its schedule are hectic, which requires absolute reliability when it comes to equipment. When working with DiGiCo, you don’t have to question that. The consoles are trustworthy workhorses in any situation. Also, when I have mixed with DiGiCo, it has been the most enjoyable experience. The new 32-bit Stadius I/O card sounds phenomenal and is a big leap forward. There is no question as to which console dominates the live scene.

‘This is an incredibly prestigious event,’ he adds. ‘Aku’s Factory Oy did an amazing job and the DiGiCo’s performed flawlessly. It was really gratifying to see so many bands using the house consoles and to get great feedback on them from their engineers.’