Finland´s own “Queen of the Slide Guitar” Erja Lyytinen is celebrating her 50th Birthday with a lavish live album package consisting of a double CD, double vinyl and a full-length DVD, which was recorded at the prestigious House of Culture, known as “Kultsa” in Helsinki Finland on 21^st March 2026. The venue House of Culture has a long tradition as a live music locale, where renowned artists from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Slayer have performed.

Entitled Erja Lyytinen – ‘50th Birthday Live 2026‘, the spectacular live album is released by Tuohi Records on Friday October 9^th and is available to pre-order on CD and vinyl here, and digitally here.

The first single take from Erja Lyytinen – ‘50th Birthday Live 2026‘ album is Lyytinen´s song ‘One Thing I Won’t Change‘ that features glam rock and punk-legend Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls, Joan Jett) on bass guitar and on backing vocals. The live single is available on all streaming platforms here.

The chemistry between the two musicians’ sparkles on this song, which combines blues and classic rock and has an infectious chorus, which makes you move!

Erja’s amazing band back her through this 90-minute-long concert full of old gems from her career. The release features songs from albums such as ‘Voracious Love‘, ‘Another World‘, and the latest studio album ‘Smell the Roses‘.

This is a heavy blues rock show with international stars. Erja brought her favourite artists to perform alongside her on the show. Swedish banjo punk/blues group Baskery featured on the song ‘Torn‘ with Erja accompanying their vocals with her guitar. Legendary bassist Sami Yaffa (Joan Jett, Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls) joined Erja and her band on the track ‘One Thing I Won’t Change‘ and you can certainly feel their energy, while they rock out to this tune that was rearranged for the event from the album ‘Forbidden Fruit‘ (2012) to celebrate life and Erja´s musical skills today.

The evening starts with an introduction from Erja´s twin boys inviting the group on stage and after that the first band song ‘Ball and Chain‘ kicks in hard. We also hear ‘Smell the Roses‘ and ‘Going to Hell‘ from the latest studio album, before the set list continues with songs from older gems such as the rocking ‘Bird‘, Erja’s beautiful slide solo take on ‘Lullaby‘, the lushy ‘Cherry Overdrive‘ and ‘Nasty Weather‘ from Erja´s ‘Dreamland Blues‘ album. The latter was recorded in Mississippi in 2006 with Kinney and David Kimbrough and has now been played and renewed exactly twenty years after.

On the song ‘Another World‘, Erja makes a vocal break down, where a thousand people in the audience join her to sing along and savor this great moment together. The live recording also includes ‘Stoney Creek‘ and ‘The Ring‘ as an encore song, that wrap up the joyous evening at House of Culture on Erja´s Birthday.

Additionally, the live album contains a concert from the ‘Smell the Roses‘ studio album release tour in October 2025. Recorded in Tempo, Mikkeli Finland, this recording has all the album songs, like ‘Dragonfly‘, the heavy ‘Abyss‘, the heart wrenching ballad ‘Empty Hours‘, huge southern-rock vibey ‘Wings to Fly‘ and in addition Erja´s favorite live tracks ‘You Talk Dirty‘ and a 13-minute-long rendition of ‘Wedding Day‘. The latter was originally recorded on the album ‘Another World‘ together with slide maestro Sonny Landreth.

Erja Lyytinen – ‘50th Birthday Live 2026‘ album is a great package showing that this firecracker lady continues to enjoy playing live and isn´t anywhere near ready to stop making music and developing herself as a musician, songwriter, and entertainer. This live album is a must for all Erja fans, who enjoy unique hard rock and blues music played with an attitude. And it will leave you with a smile on your face!

Track List:

CD/DVD

1. Introduction by Massimo & Dante (0:50)
2. The Road Leading Home (1:21)
3. Ball and Chain (4:55)
4. Smell the Roses (5:29)
5. Going to Hell (5:28)
6. Hard as Stone (4:48)
7. Bird (6:46)
8. One Thing I Won’t Change featuring Sami Yaffa (4:19)
9. Another World (7:23)
10. Torn featuring Baskery (3:54)
11. Lullaby (2:03)
12. Nasty Weather (4:01) (Only DVD)
13. Cherry Overdrive (5:59)
14. Don’t Let a Good Woman Down (4:01)
15. You Talk Dirty (6:51)
16. Stoney Creek (7:45)
17. The Ring (7:12)

Production Credits:

Erja Lyytinen – Vocals, guitars
Harri Taittonen – Hammond, backing vocals
Heikki Saarenkunnas – Bass, backing vocals
Jesse Lehto – Drums
Olli Huttunen – FOH Sound engineer
Santtu Lehtiniemi – Guitar tech
Elsa Wellamo – Photography
Marko von Konow – Graphic design

Erja Lyytinen 50th Anniversary Rock & Blues Birthday Uk Tour October 2026:

Tickets now on sale – here.

Dudley, The Lamp Tavern
Thursday 8^th October 2026
Tickets
116 High St, Dudley, DY1 1QT
Website

Sedgefield, Parish Hall
Friday 9^th October 2026
Tickets
Front St, Sedgefield, Stockton-On-Tees, TS21 3AT
Website

Edinburgh, La Belle Angele
Sunday 11^th October 2026
Tickets
11 Hastie’s Close, Edinburgh, EH1 1JD
Website

New Show Added
Darlington, Angels Cut (Solo Show)
Monday 12^th October 2026
Tickets
39 Duke St, Darlington, Dl3 7TZ
Website

Sheffield, The Greystones
Tuesday 13^th October 2026
Tickets
Greystones Road, Sheffield, S11 7BS
Website

Oxford, The Bullingdon
Wednesday 14^th October 2026
Tickets
162 Cowley Rd, Oxford OX4 1UE
Website

London, Half Moon
Thursday 15^th October 2026
Tickets
93 Lower Richmond Rd., London, SW15 1EU
Website

Faverhsam, The Old Brewery Store
Friday 16^th October 2026
Tickets
Mill Place, Faversham, Kent, Me13 7dy
Website

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