Erja Lyytinen - The Half Moon Putney, London 10 April 2024

I arrived early, only to find a long queue of people impatiently waiting for the doors to open. Because of how anxious everyone was to get to the front of the stage, it appeared I was the only person here who hadn’t yet seen Erya Lyytinen in concert. I’ve subsequently found out this is her 20th year of touring and making records, a remarkable achievement for any artist. 

Due to a last minute cancellation there was no support act, so Lyytinen and her two accompanying musicians walked onstage to a cold audience. But the reception she received made it blatantly clear who everyone had come to see. Dressed in black and armed with a beautiful 22 fret sparkling pink Stratocaster, she greeted her fans like long lost friends. Blessed with a smile that could light up a darkened room it was easy to see why she had such adoring followers. Tonight she fronted a classic power trio, akin to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble. They opened with ‘Diamonds In The Road’, and it wasn’t long before we were treated to the first dazzling display of slide guitar. An incredibly hard technique to master. A discipline that many have tried and nearly as many have failed. The Derek Trucks and Ry Cooder’s of the world are very few and far between. But Lyytinen is unquestionably a gifted exponent. She delicately blends slide guitar with a wah-wah pedal creating her own signature sound. 

This was my first Erja Lyytinen experience, but the rest of the audience were fully paid up fan club members, and looking around it seemed like they were in a state of delirium from the sound coming off stage. 

Next up was ‘Rocking Chair’, which made me very quickly realise that the first song was merely a warm up for what was about to come. Astonishing is the word I would use to describe her playing. 

The first 2 songs had been created from tried and tested chord progressions, serving as a platform for her prodigious guitar skills, but ‘Bad Seed’ was something much more sophisticated. Classical influences could be heard throughout the arrangement and the guitar solo was reminiscent of Blackmore’s work in Rainbow. As the set progressed the sheer width and breadth of Lyytinen’s musical knowledge became more and more apparent, her ability to blend traditional blues scales with more advanced music theory was extremely impressive. To integrate wide interval arpeggios within a blues song is not an easy thing to do, but within ‘Black Ocean’ she made it look effortless.

‘Never Really Had You’ started out like something Bonnie Raitt would perform but soon morphed into the kind of song that US rockers Heart released throughout the 80’s. For me it was the standout moment of the set up to that point. 

With its surprisingly commercial chorus, 'Last Girl’ had a structure quite different from her other compositions, further emphasising the vastness of her musical boundaries. The killer riff of ‘Waiting For The Daylight’ was the most powerful moment in the set, musically not a million miles away from something you might find on an Audioslave album. 

Lyytinen was now playing a stunning blue G & L hybrid Telecaster/Stratocaster. She clearly has impeccable taste in guitars. ‘You Talk Dirty’ was a song of two halves. It started out with an arrangement not dissimilar to the kind of material Whitesnake were recording around the Slide It In era, but a beautiful slide guitar solo after the second chorus saw the song segue into a passage that contained some unusual but fabulous melodies, with guitar and vocals synced in perfect unison. This type of musical content is what really separates her from the rest of the pack. She Incorporates a fusion of styles and influences which to my ear sounds quite unique. 

‘Lover’s Novels’ served as yet another showcase for Lyytinen’s incredible mastery of slide guitar. At this point only a musical illiterate would question her supreme talent. Throughout the show she speaks with ease to her captivated audience, they clearly have a strong connection not only to her music but also with her.

As we approached the end of the set the mood was becoming a little more relaxed. ‘Wedding Day’ is built around a classic shuffle drum beat, a fun song that allows the musicians to metaphorically let their hair down. With a mixture of improvisation and dynamics they held the audience in the palm of their hand, highlighting everything that’s great about live music in the process. The Jimi Hendrix classic ‘Crosstown Traffic’ got everyone dancing. A slight detour from the original arrangement allowed Lyytinen to incorporate an elaborate, but of course brilliant, guitar solo. 

The final song of the evening was the sublime ‘The End Of Music’. A beautiful composition that builds and builds, until climaxing on a hypnotic refrain. Like all good artists she had saved the best for last. 

I arrived knowing only her name, but left in awe of an incredibly accomplished musician and performer.

Myke Gray