RantaBlues 2025

The second RantaBlues in Ikaalinen, and the second time Erja Lyytinen was there as the main act. Like last year, the main stage lineup was first class, with Ina Forsman as the first performer there, and SF Blues in between.

We nearly missed the first band on the side stage, Lazymen Blues Band, but the little I heard sounded good. No good photos of them.

Ina Forsman (extra #1) has changed her style towards old soul music instead of the blues material she had when I saw her seven years ago. She's a great singer, but for me perhaps the best bits were the more bluesy songs.

Next on the side stage was a band called Lulua (extra #2), unknown to me before, but they sounded good. Afterwards I found out they define themselves as a "sporty pop-rock band". I suppose that's why the singer Miia looked like she was going to play tennis instead of music. Sporty she was, and their performance was very energetic!

It was SF Blues' first concert after the passing of Heikki Silvennoinen (who was there in the same slot with his own band last year), one of the founders of the band, and their show had many of his songs. A collage of the members in the extra #3. The current leaders of the band are Dave Lindholm (top left) and Pepe Ahlqvist (top right). Marjo Leinonen (top middle) and keyboardist Jukka Gustavson were guest stars, although I think the latter is permanent "guest".

The last performer on the side stage was Emilia Sisco, who had just a guitarist to accompany her. I saw her six years ago with a band, and liked that better.

Erja Lyytinen played mostly songs from her latest album. At the end there were a couple of older songs and she also paid a tribute to Heikki Silvennoinen, whom she last met on the backstage here. Afterwards we had a little chat in the meet and greet, when I got her signature on the cover of the new CD. 

The day was warm, up to +25°C, but it felt warmer because of high humidity. It was still +23°C in the car thermometer, when we left for home at midnight!