Helsinki’s second remote May Day was relatively calm and peaceful. Some revellers gathered in the city centre over the weekend, but mainly people celebrated in small groups. The virtual ‘Vapun päällä vappu’ concert drew more than 600,000 viewers over the weekend.
The second consecutive remote May Day in Helsinki was fairly calm and peaceful overall. No traditional May Day events were held this year either, and locals were instead urged to celebrate the beginning of the spring season safely with close friends and family.
According to the Helsinki Police Department, May Day Eve was significantly more uneventful than normal. Most celebrated in small groups in accordance with the effective guidelines and recommendations. During May Day Eve, larger groups of revellers gathered in Kaivopuisto and other local parks, which led to the police having to clear the parks pre-emptively.
Helsinki Police Department bulletin about May Day celebrations(Link leads to external service) (in Finnish)
More than 600,000 viewers for ‘Vapun päällä vappu’ concert
The ‘Vapun päällä vappu’, which topped off the May Day Eve celebrations and took place in Virtual Helsinki, was the most popular TV programme of the day among persons younger than 54. Nelonen’s TV broadcast reached nearly 600,000 viewers, in addition to which the recording was viewed from the Ruutu streaming service almost 30,000 over the weekend. The performances by Apulanta and Stig took the audience to the virtual Vallisaari district and Senate Square, which were decked with imaginative stage installations.
“It was epic to play in this uniquely amazing virtual show, which took a lot of work from a lot of people to put together. At the same time, I kind of missed having the same experience with a live audience,” said Sipe Santapukki, drummer for the band Apulanta.
“It was an awesome show, and it was fun to be involved. I would imagine that there might be demand for these kinds of virtual shows in the future,” said Stig, who performed on the virtual Senate Square.
The City of Helsinki was one of the main partners of the show, together with Nelonen Media and VR. The ‘Vapun päällä vappu’ show was produced by Zoan Oy, a company specialising in virtual technology.
In addition to this, the other May Day programming organised by the City of Helsinki drew plenty of viewers. For example, the concert by Jukka Tolonen and Ramblin’ Jazz Quartet recorded at Vuotalo was viewed more than 1,400 times over the May Day weekend at Helsinki-kanava.
Some of the programming is still available for viewing through Helsinki-kanava(Link leads to external service).
More information
tapahtumat.hel.fi(Link leads to external service)
Photo: Stig performing in Virtual Helsinki. Zoan Oy.