Erja Lyytinen

Artists: Erja Lyytinen, Dikajee

Venue: Sheffield, The Greystones

Date: 08 April 2025

"Lyytinen demonstrated throughout the whole evening what an exponent of the six-string she is, her fingers smoothly moving up and down the fretboard, especially on slide guitar. Her vocals are also very good, the slight Scandinavian accent adding to the quality rather than detracting."

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Support this evening was something a little bit different by way of Dikajee, self-proclaimed Progressive Chamber Folk Rock. The Russian (St Petersburg) born Olja “Dikajee” Karpova tonight was accompanied by Sarah Lambert-Gates (Daughter of the Water). The duo took to the stage unobtrusively with Dikajee’s piano and Lambert-Gates’ mic-stand adorned with flowers, with the front woman immediately addressing the crowd, “We’re not Blues; however, our music is sad and miserable…”. The latter immediately brought laughter from an intrigued crowd. The pair started with their vocal harmonies and played stripped down versions (Dikajee normally plays with a band of multiple musicians) of songs from the 2021 debut album ‘Forget-Me-Nots’.

The ethereal ‘Forest’ was followed by ‘Lily Of The Valley’ with its haunting piano, the young lady is certainty a very talented pianist. The Progressive fairy tale of ‘Friar’s Lantern’ required a choir of howling ghosts, which tonight’s audience amusingly provided. A cover of Bjork’s ‘Pagan Poetry’ provided further illustration of Dikajee’s stunning vocals, sounding like a cross between the Icelandic songstress, Enja and Evanescence’s Amy Lee. The crowd were very respectful throughout and listened with fascination and by the end of the final song, the Folk/Prog ‘Gloomy Flowers Blooming’ the pair had gained a whole host of new fans.

Setlist (contains spoilers)

For this tour, Finnish Blues Rock sensation Erja Lyytinen was touring as a power trio, ably accompanied by drummer Jesse Lehto and bassist Heikki Saarenkunnas. The Backroom of The Greystones was set out with a dozen candlelit tables and chairs with further room at the back for people to stand. I would estimate that there were approximately seventy to eighty in attendance this evening. The atmosphere generated was great from an audience made up of long-term fans and those seeing the Finnish Blues sensation for the first time. The sound was loud and clear and a perfect mix courtesy of sound tech Uula Korhonen.

This was an old school tour with Lyytinen promoting her latest studio album, the brilliant ‘Smell The Roses’. All nine tracks were featured in tonight’s setlist (different running order to the album). I’d already listened to the new opus several times before this evening’s performance, and I was interested in how they would transfer to the live environment. No worries on that part as they were equally as good and in the case of set openers ‘Ball & Chain’ and ‘Wings To Fly’ arguably even better. I would also include ‘The Ring’ in the latter category, and a song which is likely to feature as a live staple in years to come.

Lyytinen demonstrated throughout the whole evening what an exponent of the six-string she is, her fingers smoothly moving up and down the fretboard, especially on slide guitar. Her vocals are also very good, the slight Scandinavian accent adding to the quality rather than detracting. My personal highlights of the evening were ‘Dragonfly’ with its great riff and even better chorus (one of the songs of the year); the dark and brooding ‘Abyss’, which Erja described as, “a loud one”, and a song that would not be out of place in The Winery Dogs discography; and of course the title-track of the new record, which is a little more mainstream. The pace slowed when Erja dropped to E-minor for sad song and ballad ‘Empty House’. Similar to her peers like Joanne Shaw Taylor, Samantha Fish and Sari Schorr, Lyytinen refuses to by typecast simply into the Blues genre, and although that’s still very much her wheelhouse, many of the songs played tonight would easily fit under the Melodic Hard Rock umbrella.

Following a brief bass solo, Erja launched into the heavy Blues rocker ‘You Talk Dirty’, and concluded the main set with the stonking, foot-tapping Blues tour-de-force ‘Wedding Day’, where the Finnish guitar enchantress got to display all her skills. Final song was ‘Lover’s Novels’, which this evening was at least three times as long as the studio version on the 2017 ‘Stolen Hearts’ album.

Within five minutes the leading lady was back out to meet and greet her fans still with the beautiful smile beaming across her face, and why should she not, when she’s that talented. If you’re yet to discover the wonderful music of Erja Lyytinen, I suggest you wake up and ‘Smell The Roses’.

Setlist (contians spoilers)

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Review: Mark Donnelly

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