Well as promised a healthy WRC representation was at the Munich Oktoberfest yesterday celebrating AJ's ..ahem 60th birthday. To be precise a party of eleven resplendent in their special edition 'On Tour' t-shirts (pictured) were in the Hofbrau Festzelt tent today enjoying the beer and listening to the Alois Altmann Band. Anyway check out today's Vid Of The Day to get a feel of what was a truly memorable day. Prost!

Well we promised you a German flavour this week and the news is that a healthy WRC representation will be at the Munich Oktoberfest today celebrating AJ's ..ahem 60th birthday. To be precise a party of eleven resplendent in their special edition 'On Tour' t-shirts (pictured) will be situated in the Hofbrau Festzelt tent today enjoying the beer and listening to the Alois Altmann Band. Anyway check out today's Vid Of The Day to get a feel of what's in store. Prost!

Four years after Adrian Vandenberg made a spectacular comeback with Vandenberg’s Moonkings (Video Of The Day), the band returns with a sophomore album, simply titled 'MK II'. The album has all the qualities of the debut: once again the four-piece band manages to create a perfect mix of vintage seventies Hard Rock and current styles of Heavy Rock. Adrian Vandenberg shines as a bonafide guitar virtuoso, while the rest of the band also delivers in spades. Yet 'MK II' has even more to offer than the highly praised first album. It shows how the band grew into a strong unit during the world tours of recent years. The release of 'MK II' will be supported with club tours and appearances on festivals worldwide.

"Accordingly Erja introduced her band including Juha Verona on bass and Kai Jokiaho on drums before the predominantly key influenced 'Everything's Fine' from her 2012 album 'Song's From The Road'. With a seemingly permanent smile on her face and down on bended knee - an amazing solo on her green guitar, that oozed real Blues, with a subtle hint of 'Summertime' - confirmed the fact that you can take the green Goddess out of Finland but you can't take the green Goddess out of the girl. "The next song has a lot of guitar - but you don't mind that do you?" Lyytinen teased as they launched 'Black Ocean' a more down to earth Blues track with its heavy bass line, a nice funky repetitive riff with a full blown guitar solo complemented by both Erja's crystal clear vocal and more awesome organ." Read the whole of AJ's Erja Lyytinen London Borderline review here plus our photo gallery here

This week's Blues On The Radio Podcast Track Of The Day has music from Elles Bailey (pictured), Robbie Reay, Likho Duo, The Norman Beaker Band, Austin Gold, Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers, Jim Byrnes, The Brent Hutchinson Band, Savoy Brown, Broken Levee, Kelly Z, Roadhouse, Terri Shaltiel and Lisa Mann all in one hour!

2017 is certainly a special year for Wilko Johnson (Track Of The Day). Not only does it mark the 30th anniversary of the Wilko Johnson Band, but this year sees the guitarist celebrating his 70th birthday, which he celebrates with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall tonight. Given the events of recent years, this celebration at the Royal Albert Hall is all the more meaningful: the death-defying Johnson leading his own party with partners in crime Norman Watt-Roy (bass), Dylan Howe (drums), family, friends and special guests.

Following the recent release of their new album 'Rise & Shine', Nashville trio and WRC favourites SIMO return to London and The Borderline tonight. The album began taking shape on the road, where SIMO's three bandmates - singer, guitarist and namesake frontman JD Simo; drummer Adam Abrashoff; and bassist Elad Shapiro (pictured) - spent most of 2016 on tour. They played 215 shows that year (including supporting Beth Hart, Blackberry Smoke and the late great Gregg Allman) leaving behind their Nashville headquarters and traveling to nine different countries in support of their Billboard Top 10 Blues album, 'Let Love Show the Way'.

Finland’s leading slide guitarist Erja Lyytinen last night returned to London, and in particular The Borderline, as part of her seven date UK tour, hot on the heels of the release of Erja’s critically acclaimed album 'Stolen Hearts' which was released earlier this year. We were lucky enough to be at the album launch at London's 100 Club in April and last night's gig raised Erja's bar even higher. Anyway with a review and more pics to come - check out today's Vid Of The Day.

Today's Black On Blues Podcast Track Of The Day includes Ruzz Guitar, Chris Bad News Barnes, King King, Micky Free, Jack J Hutchinson (pictured), Tommy Castro and Mississippi John Hurt.

"The definitive downbeat Blues track 'Slowly Burning' - was another opportunity for Erja to take it out on her Fender Strat with a smooth controlled vocal delivery given the song's emotional context. Black Ocean' was a more down to earth Blues track with a nice funky repetitive riff with a full blown guitar solo complemented by both Erja's crystal clear vocal and more awesome organ. They rounded the album off with the unusual time signature of 'Rocking Chair' - essentially a true Blues track with trademark slide guitar plus a nice grooving riff and vocal that made way for a deserved drum and bass solo. A thoroughly enjoyable evening ended with an a capella intro from Erja on their encore 'People Get Ready' - a beautiful take on the Curtis Mayflied/The Impressions number - Lyytinen's sweet guitar solo bringing back memories of the innocence of the early Bonamassa era. Delightful." That was part of our Erja Lyytinen 100 Club gig review from April and Erja returns to London and The Borderline tonight!

Our German flavoured week (more on that later) kicked off with a bang on Saturday night at London's Borderline - suffice to say that Henrik Freischlander war wunderbar! The self-taught multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer and label owner, played the proverbial mixed bag of a set, ensuring that not only his seven band members had their moment to shine but also that his time spent touring with his friend and Blues legend Joe Bonamassa had certainly rubbed off him musically and in terms of not being lonely on stage! Check out today's photo gallery here of a knock-out set that included '1999' , 'Get Up, Stand Up' (today's Vid Of The Day) plus a Hendrix jam. Das ist gut ja?

Can it really be over five years ago now since we included an awesome Henrik Frieschlader track on our July 2012 Wrinklycast? That was a live track recorded upstairs at the O2 Academy Islington a month earlier - recommended by WRC member Pete Elphick - and yes a few Frieschlader virgins were present at London's Borderline last night to witnesss an exceptional gig from the German singer and guitarist - to kick off a German WRC slant to the coming week (more about that later). Anyway, with great support from the Connor Selby Band and the Joe Anderton band, check out today's Video Of The Day with more pics in our photo gallery tomorrow.