Gig review: ERJA LYYTINEN- Half Moon, Putney, London, 18 November 2025

November 21st, 2025 by andynathan

Finnish blues rocker Erja Lyttinen, dubbed ‘the queen of the slide guitar’, has been a familiar name on the British scene for a while. Indeed I see it was as long ago as 2005 that our blues guru Pete Feenstra first wrote about her in these pages. Somehow I’d never managed to see her, so one of a short series of British dates in one of London’s longest running pub music venues and on my side of the capital was a perfect opportunity to finally see for myself.

I was disappointed to see a small turnout with the back room half full at best, given that I assumed she has built quite a following in this country. Leading a classic power trio and taking the stage with wavy black hair and leather trousers to match, it was instantly clear that she is a confidently extrovert stage performer, enjoying an easy rapport with her fans and regularly encouraging audience participation.

The set was heavily built around current album ‘Smell The Roses’ including a very lively opener in ‘Ball and Chain’, showing off that slide prowess on a bright blue guitar with some angular-sounding solos. Yet the slide was set aside for a while during some other new songs in the album’s title track, ‘Going To Hell’ and ‘Dragonfly’, which featured an opening riff that reminded me of ‘The Green Manalishi’ and featured the first long solo of the night.

I know her style has evolved over the years and much like our own Chantel MacGregor, on this evidence she has used the blues as a jumping off point to explore a wider range of sounds with elements of metal – particularly on ‘Abyss’- and prog very apparent at times. Her vocals are distinctive and heavily accented and I was drawing comparisons at various points to the contrasting figures of Grace Slick and Bjork.

‘Lover’s Novels’ was in a more familiar, almost Chicago blues style, fast-paced and with some excellent slide work. It was also the only number of the opening ten not taken from the album.

Somewhat surprisingly as I thought we were only just getting going, she broke the set into two with a longish interval. When the music restarted, it was on a more downbeat note with the haunting ‘Empty Hours’ and ‘Stoney Creek’ where the bass drum made for a menacingly stark rhythm.

Returning to more out-and-out rock material, ‘The Ring’ saw her shrieking out the vocals with passion and playing a long slide solo. ‘Wings To Fly’ had the most accessible choruses of the night and an interesting riff, then preceded by a bass solo from the plait-haired Heikki Saarenkunnas, ‘You Talk Dirty’ was another long workout. However the longest was yet to come in old favourite ‘Wedding Day’, with lashings of heavy slide in the mould of Rory Gallagher or Elmore James.

The song was extended and it looked at one point as if it might never end as he she teased the audience and threw in a few snippets of classic riffs. Having been late to the party, this was probably my best indicator of what the ‘old’ Erja Lyytinen was like. It all made for an interesting and never predictable evening of her original take on an old musical form. Now I’m more familiar with the material, I expect to enjoy it even more next time.

Review by Andy Nathan
Photos by Zoran Veselinovic

Album review (Smell The Roses, 2025)

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