Ankea Festival brings prog and alternative music to Tampere next summer
Ankea Festival – a new open air festival for alternative rock and progressive metal lovers – opens its gates for the first time next June in Tampere, Finland. The first acts of the line up have now been revealed. The festival area, nestled by lake Näsijärvi in an old graffiti-filled industrial site, will welcome the likes of Norwegian metal legend and multi-instrumentalist Ihsahn, Irish post-rock duo God Is An Astronaut, Icelandic mystical post-punk group Kaelan Mikla and boundary-pushing psychedelic rockers Oranssi Pazuzu. Ankea Festival will feature over 20 artists all together.
The festival will be held in and around the Hiedanranta industrial site, where an attendance of a few thousand music-lovers is expected. Further details of the festival area, food, drinks and program will be revealed during the winter.
Ankea Festival is the brainchild of two Tampere-based promoters: Alt Agency & Management, renowned booking agency and festival promoter in the indie rock scene, and Nahka Agency, best known as a tour promoter and booker in the metal music community. The goal of the organizers is to offer progressive rock and metal lovers a cosy alternative to major festivals, easily accessible to public transport, cyclists and international guests.
“Ankea Festival is an exploration into the world of alternative music. Our aim is to showcase acts from genres with limited representation at summer festivals in Finland and the Nordic countries. With the super atmospheric and unique Hiedanranta site as our home, we’ll try our best to offer an experience like no other, down to the very last detail – in food and drinks too.”
The promoters, Sami Silvennoinen from Nahka Agency and Marko Nikula from Alt Agency comment.
Ankea Festival 2026 confirmed artists:
Ihsahn (NO), God Is An Astronaut (IE), Oranssi Pazuzu (FI), Kaelan Mikla (IS), Green Carnation (NO), Circle (FI), A.A. Williams (UK), Bruce Soord (UK), Earthside (UK), Ihlo (UK), Vermilia (FI), Virta (FI). More artists to be announced later.
Tickets for the festival go on sale from Thursday 27th November 2025 and a Two-day tickets is priced at 149,90€. Tickets are available form the Ankea Festival website HERE.
Photo of Circle (c) Kimmo Metsaranta
Photo of Ihsahn (c) Andy Ford
Photo of Kaelan Mikla (c) Einar Jarl
