Scandinavian Culture Calendar: June 2025

Festival season is upon us once again! And whether it’s music festivals, film festivals, photography festivals or even samba festivals you’re into, there’s plenty of them happening in the Nordic lands this month. Here’s Scan Magazine’s pick of the bunch, plus a few other cultural highlights taking place across the month of June.

Distortion (4-8 June)

Copenhagen’s biggest street party and electronic music festival is once again set to attract 100,000 Copenhageners outside throughout the various neighbourhoods of the city. Each summer, the Distortion party tsunami rolls through the Danish capital, organising all sorts of gatherings in the city’s public spaces, all while paying tribute to Copenhagen itself. Each day, Distortion moves the party from one area of the city to the next. And when the daytime parties in the capital’s streets end, the night parties take over in some of Copenhagen’s most popular venues. The event culminates in style on the Friday and Saturday, when the vibrant island of Refshaleøen transforms into Scandinavia’s biggest electronic music festival, Distortion Ø.

Copenhagen, Denmark

www.cphdistortion.dk

Distortion. Photo: Ekvidi Jason Krüger

Photo: @rebecabuenrostro

Copenhagen Photo Festival (6-16 June)

For 11 days in June, as has become tradition now, the city of Copenhagen is going to be filled with a montage of photos and plenty of photo exhibitions, too. Copenhagen Photo Festival has been going since 2010 and is one of the leading events of its kind. Every year, 250 to 300 photographers from all over the world take part in the festival pro gramme. The festival comes with more than 55 exhibitions happening all over Copenhagen and the south of Sweden, so there is plenty to experience and see from both Danish and international photographers. The festival’s central hub is located in Copenhagen’s old industrial neighbourhood turned cultural hotspot, Refshaleøen. There, visitors will be able to attend many of the organised talks and photography exhibitions taking place throughout the festival.

Copenhagen, Denmark

www.copenhagenphotofestival.com

Helsinki Samba Carnaval (9-15 June)

The streets of the Finnish capital rarely look as colourful as they do when this event comes to town! Helsinki Samba Carnaval is one of the largest annual summer events in Helsinki and takes place every June. The event is growing in popularity, attracting up to 40,000 spectators every year. It has become the biggest carnival event in Finland and in addition to locals f locking to it, it’s now seeing tourists from all over the world descend upon Helsinki to soak up the spirited atmosphere. The event offers a packed programme open to all and free of charge, including work shops, celebrations and, of course, the vibrant carnival parades! The carnival is suitable for everyone, from young children to adults.

Helsinki, Finland

www.helsinkisambacarnaval.fi

GENERATION (19-22 June)

GENERATION is returning again in 2025 as Copenhagen’s new film festival, centred on the most distinctive and courageous talents in film art. This year, the festival will once again spread throughout the city, when Empire Bio, Cinemateket, Gloria Biograf and the Danish Film School collaborate to invite the public to attend film screenings, parties, artist meetings and agenda-setting debates. Over four days in June, GENERATION 2025 will be presenting innovative works from a new generation of young filmmakers, each of whom has the potential to shape the future of both Danish and international film. The event is supplemented with talks and debates with filmmakers, artists and opinion leaders, providing new perspectives on the films and on the great conversations of the time.

Copenhagen, Denmark

www.generationfestival.dk

GENERATION. Photo: Malthe Ivarsson

Photo: Press image

Kylie Minogue: Tension Tour (23-27 June)

Kylie Minogue’s Tension Tour is the international pop icon’s biggest tour since 2011, and she’s taking it to the Nordics in June. The Australian artist will take the stage at Metro Areena in Espoo, Finland on 23 June, at the Avicii Arena in Stock holm, Sweden on 25 June and at the Tinderbox Festival in Odense, Denmark on 27 June. Kylie Minogue concerts have earned a reputation for being a top-tier night of fun, from which you’ll leave with good vibes only. Well, and perhaps also a hoarse throat from singing along to so many of her beloved hits.

Espoo, Finland / Stockholm, Sweden / Odense, Denmark

www.kylie.com/live

Kylie Tension Tour 2025. Photo: Erik Melvin

STHLM Fields (24-28 June)

STHLM Fields is an outdoor stage that opens every summer at Gärdet in the heart of Stockholm, where a series of concerts with an outdoor festival vibe will be held in late June inside the idyllic urban park. Over the past few years, its popular ity has attracted many Swedish and inter national stars to its stage, and this year is no different. The 2025 series of live shows will take place over four days, with a stel lar lineup that boasts the likes of Green Day, Weezer, Muse and Mando Diao.

Stockholm, Sweden

www.sthlmfields.se

Greenday. Photo: Press

Tuska Music Festival (27-29 June)

Tuska Music Festival, the biggest heavy metal festival in Northern Europe, is back for another outing this summer. The annual gathering of metalheads has been organised since 1998, and in 2025 it will take place at Suvilahti in Helsinki, which has served as its venue since 2011. Last year’s edition of Tuska Music Festival boasted 60,000 visitors that gathered during the three festival days. The acts that are performing at this year’s event might cause that num ber to jump even further, however; the 2025 lineup reads like a who’s who of heavy metal legends, while also adding in some of the genre’s most exciting up and-comers.

Helsinki, Finland

www.tuska.fi

Tuska 2024. Photo: Alestorm Jesse Kämäräinen