Coinciding with the recent release via Tuohi Records of the award-winning Finnish guitarist and Blues artist extraordinaire's live double album, 'Erja Lyytinen- 50th Birthday Live 2026', Erja Lyytinen stopped off at London's The Half Moon in Putney on Thursday night as part of her seven-date 50th Anniversary Rock Blues Birthday UK Tour.

For fans of acoustic music, Blues Rock and artists like Chris Cornell, Glenn Hughes and Myles Kennedy, Erja's special guest tonight was South African vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Ross Harding, currently performing live dates in the UK and Europe with his The Blues Shadows Tour. His short, but enjoyable unplugged half hour set opened with the crystal clear and very apt 'Grinning', given the very likeable Harding's excellent fret work was equally matched by his line in banter.

Jokingly asking the crowd when introducing 'Blood and Bones', whether they recognised his Birmingham accent, this was followed by a wonderful vocal on his latest single, 'Seven Nation Army', a darker, atmospheric, more melancholic reimagining of The White Stripes’ early-2000s classic. that emphasised Harding’s developing Dark Blues sound, rooted in Blues while drawing heavily from Rock. Amusingly described by Ross as "Dinosaur Blues", his traditional Gospel-Blues classic of 'John the Revelator' saw everyone joyfully joining in on the chorus, while Harding's impressive slide work covering Robert Johnson's 'If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day', that's recently had a lot of deserved BBC airplay, closed his excellent set. Make sure that you also check out Harding's Dark Blues Electric Band in the near future.

Returning to the scene of her triumph last November, where this internationally acclaimed singer and songwriter consequently walked away with our 'Best Blues Rock' performance in our 2025 WRC Awards, it was so good to see Finnish slide goddess Erja Lyytinen back in London, as well as the return of her drummer Jesse Lehto and bassist Heikki Saarenkunna.

Belying her half century in a stunning black outfit with matching boots, the power trio kicked off with the same three numbers from last year, opening with 'Ball and Chain' featuring  the first, but by no means the last exceptional guitar solo from Erja this evening. This was followed by a pounding drum intro by the Erja t-shirt wearing Jesse, on the energetic title track from March 2025's 'Smell The Roses', that also saw a powerful vocal from Lyytinen. 

Another from 'Smell The Roses', the distinct Blues vibe of 'Going To Hell', featured another trademark guitar solo from Erja, before the first deviation to last year's setlist. Cue the apt 'Hard As Stone', originally from 2019's 'Another World', but more recently the second single from her live double-album, now played with a tougher edge as well as more punch.

Back on track, reflecting last year's running order, 'Dragonfly' saw the ecstatic crowd clapping along to Jesse's thumping drums, as Erja delivered yet another stand out guitar solo plus vocal to boot. The guitar-driven heavy epic 'Abyss', from 'Smell The Roses', saw this joint duly rockin' out, featuring not only one, but two searing Lyytinen guitar solos, as well as her exceptional banshee like vocal.

Originally from 2010's 'Voracious Love', as well as being the first single from her new live  album that featured Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls and Joan Jett Glam Rock and Punk-legend Sami Yaffa, 'One Thing I Won’t Change' featured not only a drum solo from Jesse but also Heikki nicely filling in for Sami on bass as well as backing vocals. Indeed, one female fan down the front couldn't take her eyes off the pony tailed Saarenkunna all evening. particularly on his brilliant bass solo on the slower 'Wings to Fly' from 'Smell The Roses, complemented by some outstanding sticks work from Lehto plus a crystal clear vocal and a mean slide riff from Lyytinen on her sparkling blue guitar.

Unbelievably released 23 years ago on her 'Attention!' album, Erja certainly got our attention given Heikki's next bass intro, as we all clapped along to her thundering slide riff on 'You Talk Dirty'. Indeed, Lyytinen maintained the momentum with another marvellous slide guitar riff on 'Stoney Creek', that shimmered like her personally monogrammed guitar belt, as well as us all pondering how on earth Erja manages those sound pedals, with those high heeled black boots?

Another from 'Smell The Roses', Lyytinen's penultimate treat on her pink guitar was the upbeat, ZZ Top influenced Rock riff of 'The Ring', duly complemented by a few raised sign of the horns from tonight's well impressed gathering, as well as few "Oi! Oi! Oi!'s" thrown in for good measure! Taken from her 2019 album 'Another World', that originally featured Sonny Landreth no less, Erja closed out another superb set with an encore of the epic 'Wedding Day', that featured an amazing extended guitar solo including snippets of 'Thunderstruck', 'Iron Man', and even Edith Piaf's 'La Vie en Rose' (that I'm also reliably informed was one of Grace Jones' early singles!).

And if you weren't there this evening (why not?), to witness yet another superb guitar and vocal masterclass from Erja, who excels with her infectious personality, as well as having a permanent smile on her face, then the next best thing is to buy the aforementioned live double-album!

Indeed, tonight was proof, if you needed it, that age is just a number. Hyvää Syntymäpäivää Erja! Here's to the next 50 years!

Review: AJ
Photos and video: Denise Lester