ilosaarirock 
The backstage team is a happy bunch. Photo: Markus Korpi-Hallila
Katja Suvanto, the backstage host for the Main Stage, greets us happily after an hour of being late.
“There was a small issue that now has been solved”, she says between apologising and asking if there is time to do the interview now. Suvanto’s smile shines as bright as the July sun in Ilosaari. Her spirits are high.
The way to the backstage runs through the festival area, and getting in is not easy, but with Suvanto there is no problems. The security only offer greetings and stand next to the gate.
Meeting up with the host of the backstage and the team that takes care of the artists is a rare treat. There is a limited amount of time available for the interview, since they work all day through as there are artists arriving from early afternoon to late night. The team sits around a table and seems shy. For a team responsible for the welfare of the artists and therefore indirectly for the success of the festival, it seems odd that they sit there smiling calmly.
Suvanto laughs and explains that Finns are more or less down to earth.
The team introduces itself. Ulla Ikonen, one of the experienced ones, says she has lived here in Joensuu a while now, but emphasises that she originally comes from up north Rovaniemi. Without finishing her sentence, one of the older men Jyrki Väisänen interrupts her and says that he is originally from Rovaniemi too. A moment of silence and Ikonen pauses to think. She asks Väisänen’s last name and shortly remembers playing as a child with him. The childhood friends are reunited, just out of coincidence.
Some of them have several years of backstage experience; eight years for one, four for the other, but they all agree that the best thing about working in the festival is to be under the supervision of Suvanto.
Suvanto describes her primary task to be the satisfaction of the guests. No enquiry or wish is ignored and Suvanto claims to take extra care on trying to fulfill everyone’s wishes. She has gone as far as bringing foreign soda to the country since it is not sold within the Finnish borders.
– Usually we aim to make the whole rider list (a wish list of food, drink and from the artists) happen.
The crew plays it down to earth and claims they only wait for the tour busses to arrive to unload them and then load the busses again when the moment of goodbye comes. Between those moments they play card and board games.
–When the artists drive to the backstage their equipment is unloaded, but that is the job of the stage workers. Even though this year there has been more private equipment than ever it has not caused any chaos and everything has run smoothly. The host’s task is to take care of the needs before and after the stage phase.
It is Suvanto’s task to delegate different jobs between the team members. The list of things to do and the number of people to delegate to depend on the day. The main person to ask for help, advice or give critic to is Suvanto. She still praises how she loves her job. Even her temper gets training.
–I usually have a short temper when it comes to my personal life, but I never have problems at work.
Suvanto gets an emergency call and takes her leave to go look for a bandana for someone needing it immediately. Time to talk about the boss. When asking the best thing about this year’s festival, the whole team shouts in unison: “Having Katja as the boss!”
The team is very pleased about the flow of work in the back stage. Communication has been more than successful, there has been no major problems and everyone seems to sense the each other’s needs.
Another interruption follows as one from the backstage workers needs a bandage on his hand. Suvanto jumps up and knows exactly where to look for such things and helps the man.
Time runs out and everyone needs to get back to work. Another tour bus is on the way and someone is calling on the radiophone.
Q&A with the host:
The host hangs out with the guests and is friends with all the artists? FALSE
– (laughing) No, this is definitely not true. I don’t have time to just hang out. We meet and greet the guests, but it is really hard to stay and chat with them for a longer period of time.
Being the host is easy because you only need to please everyone and make other people get what is needed? FALSE
- I hold the strings. If someone needs something or something is wrong in the backstage area it is my job to solve it. It is stressful, but I love it!
The bands have divas who want only strange things? FALSE
–The weirdest thing that someone has wanted was specific guitar strings, and it was Sunday, so that was quite impossible. That was a moment when you just needed to say that it cannot be done.
Text: Monica Gathuo
Photo: Markus Korpi-Hallila<
