Some may argue that music is born in the studio, but it comes to life and evolves when performed live on stage. With a live album, there is no safety net. You get one shot at capturing those perfect moments and preserving them forever. With the pandemic now seemingly in our rear-view mirror, Erja Lyytinen and her band have been touring relentlessly. With the high-flying Finn in top form, the artist decided to capture the magic of their live performances on their new concert album, Diamonds on the Road – Live 2023.
The release marks Erja Lyytinen’s fourth live album, and follows on from Songs from the Road, Live in London, and Lockdown Live. The new album is the first concert release from the gifted guitarist to capture the post-Covid live experience. “Diamonds on the Road was recorded towards the end of our Spring tour in March 2023,” says Erja. “We played ten shows in a row, of which eight were sold out. The band had a good flow going, and the songs were rolling nicely.”
Speaking about the new live album, Lyytinen said: “When playing live, you’ve got one moment to get it right, and then the moment is gone. There is no correcting stuff later. It is very raw and exciting to play and sing at the same time. The adrenaline runs through your body, and everything around you affects your performance.”
Since pandemic restrictions lifted, the artist has graced the stages of venues and festivals across Europe and beyond. Unlike Lockdown Live, which captured a key moment in time during the pandemic, the artist’s new double live album highlights the joys of once again being able to perform in front of a sold-out crowd.
“Compared to our previous live recording Lockdown Live, which was filmed and recorded as a streaming gig without an actual audience during the first two months of the pandemic in 2020, this was quite different with an interactive crowd,” reflects Erja. “The show took place at Rytmikorjaamo, Seinäjoki, in the Western part of Finland. On the night of the recording, people were enjoying the live performance, cheering to the solos, dancing, and having a good time together next to each other.”
Over the years, Erja Lyytinen’s sound has evolved dramatically. Beginning with her traditional blues roots, Lyytinen has been simultaneously pushing forward with a hard rock-orientated style of play whilst always keeping that blues sound at the core of everything she does. “My sound has changed since the last live recording. My playing has more of a hard-rock element and edge,” says Erja.
Erja attributes some of those changes to her equipment and repertoire of trusty axes. “Since my last live recording, my live guitar arsenal has grown quite a bit. I have five to six guitars, from Strats and Teles to custom-made guitars, on stage with me. It´s quite cool to dig out the different characteristics of each guitar. I´m using my road-worn Fender Custom Shop guitar on the songs Black Ocean and Never Really Had You. I had the guitar fine-tuned right before the tour and added it to my live arsenal. I feel as though it has been a sin to keep this Strat as my sofa guitar for years!”
The songs featured on Diamonds On The Road highlight the old, the new, the borrowed and the blues. “For the set list of the live album, we had a mixture of my favourite old songs and then a selection of the songs from my latest studio album, Waiting for The Daylight,” explains Erja. “We also recorded a Jimi Hendrix classic, Crosstown Traffic. I made my own version of it by playing the song using slide! It is so cool to play the song, and, on the recording, it is our first encore.”
Diamonds on the Road – Live 2023 also includes an exclusive feature not found in the artist’s previous live albums. “I wrote a song based on artwork by famous Finnish artist Pekka Halonen´s painting ‘Väinämöinen Tuonelassa.’ The piece tells the story of the Finnish epic saga, Kalevala, where a shaman called Väinämöinen goes to the Underworld. The song is slightly folk metal and sung in Finnish. It is a cool addition to the set list, making this live recording my first to have a song sung in Finnish,” explains Lyytinen.
The new live album highlights Erja and the band doing what they do best, playing concerts for their fans. “I have always loved performing live, but now, I enjoy playing even more and saying this on behalf of my band; I think they do, too. Performing live is stronger, more relaxed, and empowering. I´m grateful to be a guitarist and singer who is giving her best for the audience each night. It’s the best thing you can do with your pants on,” concludes Erja.
The album starts with the title track, which is also released as a single. It has a dark mood, that tells the story of a poor woman left alone in a shabby home with a baby, while her man has snuck out to be with his rich lover. She plans revenge, the song having a cinematic feel to it and a mean slide guitar solo wedding to an explosive double tempo from the band. The slide solo features lots of distortion and delay to create that gloomy but quite psychedelic vibe. An impressive start!
Rocking Chair follows, with another huge slab of slide layered with reverb, she’s good at this! Bad Seed is a classic rumbling bar-room blues track, augmented with another raucous piece of rocky guitar work, much appreciated by the crowd. Erja continues this slightly fuzzed, slightly distorted tone on her work in Black Ocean, again driven by a meaty riff which eventually expands into a signature solo, lots of sustain, its a slower track that provides the perfect vehicle for this soaring series of notes.
Waiting for the daylight has a monster riff and great organ sound, this is a truly heavyweight number. It’s followed by the aforementioned Väinämöinen Tuonelassa, this mixes an almost tribal sound with more meaty riffwork. A little later and we get You Talk Dirty, a twenty-year-old song that is introduced with a touch of almost Purple-esque organ. It’s become a stomping, live favourite for her fans, and also for Erja herself, describing it as her favourite live track to play – she gets to play loud, using her Whammy up and down to create a nicely heavy doom effect.
Lovers Novels and Wedding Day bring the main set to a close, before we get the delicious surprise of a cover of Hendrix’s Crosstown Traffic. Erja’s consciously made a quite different version here, speedier, a touch of slide, and a kazoo in the ending riff of the song instead of Hendrix’ famous use of a comb to create the sound of traffic. The result is a fun and cool live track with some interesting twists along the way. The End of Music brings the show to an end, ten minutes worth of classic slow blues in the best tradition.
And there you have it – quality stuff, the record being a perfect reflection of what must have been a great gig!
