Finland’s queen of the slide guitar Erja Lyytinen celebrates her 50th birthday with a lavish live album package consisting of a double CD, double vinyl and a full-length DVD, alongside her forthcoming UK tour.
50th Birthday Live 2026 was recorded at the prestigious House of Culture, known as Kultsa, in Helsinki, Finland, on 21st March this year, and will be released by Tuohi Records on Friday 9th October. House of Culture has a long tradition as a live music locale, with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Queen and Slayer having performed there in the past.
Joining Erja Lyytinen on vocals and guitars were Harri Taittonen (Hammond, backing vocals), Heikki Saarenkunnas (bass, backing vocals) and Jesse Lehto (drums). There were also guests.
Glam rock and punk legend Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls, Joan Jett) was on hand to play bass guitar and backing vocals for ‘One Thing I Won’t Change’, the first single taken from the album and out now on all streaming platforms, alongside a live performance video. Swedish banjo punk/blues group Baskery featured on the song ‘Torn’, with Lyytinen accompanying their vocals on guitar.
‘One Thing I Won’t Change’, the new live single from Erja Lyytinen, should perhaps be referred to Finland’s Trades Description Act, because the one thing it most certainly does is change. It runs from noisy blues garage rock with prog-rock appendages to a solo that harks back to early pop-psychedelia, all while remaining a singalong throughout. The live concert footage is worth checking out too, not least because you get to see Hanoi Rocks‘ Sami Yaffa guesting and playing some pretty bodacious bass runs.
The live album also contains a concert from the Smell the Roses studio album release tour in October 2025.
The CD/DVD collection offers ‘Introduction by Massimo & Dante’, ‘The Road Leading Home’, ‘Ball and Chain’, ‘Smell the Roses’, ‘Going to Hell’, ‘Hard as Stone’, ‘Bird’, ‘One Thing I Won’t Change’ (featuring Sami Yaffa), ‘Another World’, ‘Torn’ (featuring Baskery), ‘Lullaby’, ‘Nasty Weather’ (DVD only), ‘Cherry Overdrive’, ‘Don’t Let a Good Woman Down’, ‘You Talk Dirty’, ‘Stoney Creek’ and ‘The Ring’.
The CD-only version gives you ‘Ball and Chain’, ‘Smell the Roses’, ‘Dragonfly’, ‘Going to Hell’, ‘Abyss’, ‘Stoney Creek’, ‘The Ring’, ‘Empty Hours’, ‘Wings to Fly’, ‘You Talk Dirty’ and ‘Wedding Day’.
50th Birthday Live 2026 is available to pre-order on CD, vinyl and digitally. Lyytinen also heads out on her 50th Birthday Live UK tour this October.
