The formerly Russian-owned Helsinki Arena re-opens in early October, rather than in September as previously announced. The 15,500 venue in the Pasila district has been shuttered since March 2022 due to EU sanctions related to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine a month earlier.
Since then the venue's main corporate sponsor has changed from drinks manufacturer Hartwall to state gambling monopoly Veikkaus, in partnership with concert promotion giant Live Nation. It was built in 1997, primarily as an ice hockey hall.
Vesterinen, Dylan and Roxette
The first scheduled event announced so far will be a concert by Finnish pop-rock band Vesterinen Yhtyeineen on 8 October. It is to be held with an intimate theatre set-up with around 5,000 seats.
A week later, American singer-songwriter and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan returns to the hall on 16 October. Dylan, now 84, has appeared at the same venue in 2003, 2008 and 2019. He also performed at Pori Jazz in 2014.
The only other event so far announced at the re-opened hall is a concert by Swedish pop band Roxette on 9 October, featuring new vocalist Lena Philipsson. She replaces Marie Fredriksson, who died of cancer in 2019. The group appeared at Pori Jazz about a month ago.
No word on sporting events
According to Mirkka Rautala, CEO of Live Nation Finland, any event organizer can reserve a time slot for an event at the hall, even in September, but at the moment there are no other confirmed public events before Vesterinen's gig.
There has so far been no word on any sporting events at the Arena, which was once home to the ice hockey club Jokerit. The venue was originally built at the initiative of the team's former owner, Harry "Hjallis" Harkimo. He is now the chair and sole MP of the centre-right Movement Now party.
Last spring, a Finnish real estate investment firm bought the venue from its previous Russian owners Boris Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, oligarchs close to Putin who have been slapped with western sanctions.
