US hip-hop star Nicki Minaj has confirmed that she will make her debut appearance in Finland this summer when she takes to the stage at the Summer Up Festival in Lahti in August.
Minaj, whose hits include Superbass and Starships, will headline the event’s opening night (Friday) after acts including rap duo Rae Sremmurd have performed.
Festival organiser Martin Mustonen insists, however, that the international musicians on show this year will not detract from the Finnish acts, which have long since been a major feature of the event. He added that Finnish hip-hop will be among the highlights of this year’s Summer Up.
However Mustonen admitted that the big stars who will play this year would also contribute to higher ticket prices. He explained that the cost to attract such artists was now “through the roof”, joking that they must own a lot of nice houses.
A number of Finnish acts are set to perform on the Saturday, including JVG, Kasmir, Tippa-T, Robin and Elastinen. However, top local musician Cheek, who has performed at Summer Up several times, is not part of the line-up as he is still enjoying a break from the music scene.
The two-day Summer Up festival has been a major feature of music lovers’ summers for more than 10 years now, with roughly 10,000 people attending each year.