Blues Live! 2026 Goes To UpTown

Tickets available at the door.

Accessibility: A personal assistant attends free with the same ticket as the person being assisted. The venue is wheelchair accessible with accessible restrooms. Customers using wheelchairs or requiring special assistance are asked to contact the organizers in advance to ensure smooth entry: 044-3672706

Jantso Jokelin, known for his elegant folk blues, is joined by Blues Minister Esa Kuloniemi for the 2026 special shows. In spring 2025, Jokelin made Finnish roots music history by winning the Best Solo Performer special award at the European Blues Challenge in Split, Croatia. He is a master of harmonica, slide guitar, and beatboxing, as well as a singer and storyteller for whom blues is world music and intimate poetry at once.

Blues Minister Esa Kuloniemi is known from bands including Honey B & T-Bones and Aija Puurtinen & Brooklynin satu. A respected string instrumentalist, he spent 37 years creating popular roots-music programmes for Finnish national radio. The duo performs mainly their own compositions and selected blues classics. Their debut shows at the Ylläs Jazz Blues Festival in January sold out.

The evening's second act is Jaakko Heinonen Band, playing modern Chicago blues. The trio's core is Jaakko Heinonen, who has been performing since the early 1970s and has played with bands including Chicago Overcoat and J. Leino Blues Guys - and at Tavastia he has performed with Junior Wells and Buddy Guy. The band has been active since 2002, the last ten years as a trio: Käpy Parviainen on bass and Tapo Leppänen on drums.

Blues Live ry member ticket reservations / more information: Jantso Jokelin