Another year and another Nummirock, or rather, the return of Nummirock proper after the coronavirus hiatuses. Well, fans and bands alike both returned in swarms to the festival in 2022 and that meant that Tuonela Magazine was part of the hoarde. This year’s juhannus festivities spanned June 22nd through 25th, at the traditional Kauhajoki location in Nummijärvi. Check out the festival report from Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4 here, and stay tuned for the galleries!
First of all, on arrival to Nummirock, we found that not much had changed in the best possible way. Personally, I haven’t been to Nummi since 2009, yet it all felt warm and familiar. The campsite was much as I remembered – a chaotic clusterfuck of insane annual campsites with scattered tents and shelters and campers strewn in between. Per usual, everyone there was more or less friendly and any fights we saw were between completely consenting fellows (there was only one fight, admittedly). The atmosphere was hazy and drunken, but extremely friendly and pleasant nevertheless.
The Nummirock venue has been around for ages now, so there’s not much to complain about. The main stage has a great amount of space – if not enough shade on the helle days when it is scorching and 27 degrees – and the beach stage always has the best ambience. The inside tent stage always feels perfect for whatever band is playing there, and the proximity of bars is just right.
One of the nastiest parts of Nummirock for attendees is the queue for wristbands the first day. It seemed some of our party were there for nearly an hour and the girls behind the booth kind of yanked our arms into the booth rather rudely to get our wristbands into the clamping machine. Beyond that, entry and exiting the venue area was well organized and during bigger rushes, they opened the larger gates to allow for more opportunities to get in and out faster.
There weren’t as many food options as we may have hoped for, but what was there was surprisingly high quality. This was the first festival this summer where we found Papa’s(/Fafa’s) Smokery, which is always a pleasure (thought it was a shame that they ran out of food on the last day as we’d have wanted to come back again), and the place that sold twisty potato and beet fries was a great snack for the evening. There was a nice little hot dog place tucked in next to a churro stall that was really tasty and affordable (as were the churros, we were told), and the ice cream stall similar to the one from Metal Capital festival was also there. The place dedicated largely to chicken (chicken plates, chicken wings, etc.) was the biggest disappointment of the weekend on this front, as they looked from a distance like a rotisserie place, but the chicken plate tasted like chicken that had been cooked with a hot lightbulb, which had a rather gross, rubbery element to it.
There wasn’t a whole lot to do at this festival to kill time, but generally speaking that’s not an issue, because people hang out at the campsite when they’re not checking out the bands. The main entertainment was swimming in the lake (clothing optional) or drinking in the camp. The merch tent also had a cafeteria where you could charge your devices while having lunch, which also included a bar area, so there was a bit of shade if you didn’t want to haul yourself all the way back to camp. If there would be some feedback here, it’d be nice to see festivals abandon the “random shit” merchandise just because it’s so eco-unfriendly. More efforts could be done to make Nummirock a bit more of an eco-friendly event.
The variety of toilet options is also extremely nice, because the situation is a nightmarish Russian roulette, where every barrel but one is a toilet that’s somehow full a little past capacity. For people who really can’t handle that sort of thing, the one flush toilet near the entrance (and second in the VIP area) were a godsend (or is it satansend at Nummi?). We saw the septic truck coming to empty them out at least twice a day, which really says something.
Finally, the bands. It was almost impossible to imagine someone not being able to find anything to watch at this festival. The staggering and pacing of artists between stages was well-timed, allowing for chances to see a bit of everything if one was so inclined. Ranging from blacker and thrashier artists like GORGOROTH, ROTTING CHRIST, and SEPULTURA, to the power metal of DREAMTALE and HAMMERFALL, to the classic locals like KIUAS, FEAR OF DOMINATION, and APOCALYPTICA, to the strange insanity of PIKAKASSA and GRILLIJONO K.O., to hot new acts like SMACKBOUND and PLANT MY BONES… this festival had a little something for everyone. Even the kids could come out to see HEVISAURUS!
2022 proved that no pandemic can stop the relentless festival train that is Nummirock and we were thrilled to be able to attend once more this year! Thanks for a great time and we hope to see you again next year! Let the Post-Nummirock-Depression set in!
