The Ilosaarirock Festival is an annual rock festival held on the second weekend of July in Joensuu, Eastern Finland. Founded in 1971, Ilosaarirock is the second oldest rock festival in Finland still active, and one of the oldest in Europe. In 2007 the event had 21,000 daily visitors. The festival sold out in advance every year from 1998 to 2011.

Joensuu is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Karelia. It is located in the eastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Joensuu is approximately 78,000, while the sub-region has a population of approximately 127,000. It is the 12th most populous municipality in Finland, and the ninth most populous urban area in the country.