Singer, songwriter, and lead guitarist Samantha Fish is known first and foremost for her fretwork, and since 2009 debut album Live Bait has wooed fans around the world with dynamic stage presence and charisma. In that time, she’s proven herself to be not just a prodigious blues singer and guitarist, but one who has refined her unique sound – pulling from rock’n’roll, Americana, country, soul and pop with every passing record.
Samantha Fish and her band electrified the Tramshed stage in Cardiff with her signature blend of blues, rock, and soul. Fish wasted no time in showcasing her mesmerizing guitar skills. Her fingers danced effortlessly across the fretboard, turning out soulful licks and searing solos that seemed to pour straight from the depths of her being.
It’s always a must-see show when Samantha Fish comes over to the UK. This was one of those nights when it was worth braving the elements to journey across the bridge into Cardiff , to catch this captivating performer deliver a blistering performance.
Over the course of a career midway into its second decade and stretching across seven solo albums Fish has racked up accolades and awards aplenty through her resolute and adroit application of the blues-craft.
Tonight, her playing was stratospheric, and her vocals have gone to another level entirely, without doubt she is the full package. Bursting onstage with her version of MC5s Kick Out The Jams, Sam and her band gave us almost two hours of non-stop breathless blues of the highest order. We got fan favourites Wild Heart and Better Be Lonely early on lifting the feelgood factor instantly, other early highlights were Watch It Die and the Sublime Chills and Fever.
Whether it’s because she is gearing herself up to shortly join the Experience Hendrix tour in the States, but the guitarist played like a demon all night, knocking out extended solos left right and centre. Her live playing is typically inventive and rocky, with short, explosive solos that are distinctively her own style.
Shout out too for Zac Schultze Gang for a top class support slot. A high-energy power trio with more than a nod to Rory Gallagher in style, they gave us a no-holds-barred blues rock barrage.
The focus this time for Fish when she hit the stage seemed to be all about having a good time, the guitarist really digging into her fretboard repertoire and expressing herself with complete freedom. Belters like ‘Better Be Lonely’ and ‘Bulletproof’ with its pounding cigar box slide and hypnotic beat.
A frenetic version of ‘Miles To Go’ from Black Wind Howling epitomised the electrically charged vibe of the evening. Samantha’s voice has never sounded better and was especially effective on the few occasions when the temperature was dialed down from a fast boil to a hot simmer, with a superb rendition of ‘Chills & Fever’ and a lovely version of ‘Dream Girl’ where the band took it right down and her voice soared.
Fish’s gleaming white Gibson SG howls at the full moon, paying reverence to Hendrix, and there’s an undercurrent of the late, great Aretha Franklin in those vocals. Bewitchingly melded with an urban edge of Amy Winehouse generates a 21st century feel which gives Fish a clear identity of her own.
Then she straps on an acoustic to play the old Charley Patton number Miles To Go. Seeing Sam onstage alone at that point holding the large audience silently spellbound by her performing a 1930s old Delta blues so deftly is further evidence of the confidence and star quality she now possesses.
Back to full electric blues mode for a couple of numbers before we get treated to some Mississippi Hill Country blues. Dreamgirl and Black Wind take us swirling to the end of the show but fear not, the encore follows quickly and is worth admission by itself.
‘I Put A Spell On You’ was the first of two encores and again featured an impressive torchy vocal performance of this standard as well as a long, mesmerising solo that built and built.
Sam plays a long, superb rendition of the Screaming Jay Hawkins classic.
Special mention must go to Sams’s band, no histrionics, no fuss, just world-class musicianship allowing Sam to do her thing, so kudos to Mickey Finn (keys & Hammond), Ron Johnson (bass) and Jamie Douglass (drums).
Fish punches with a heavyweight force for sure. Smiling she observes “That’s what I’m talking about!”; the atmosphere is being ramped right up with the band circumrotating with the ease of the tyre upon the black-top of the freeway.
For the last number she was joined by Zac Schulze, and the guitar duo played a raucous version of ‘Going Down South’ trading solos and rinsing every nuance of the blues scale out of their instruments. This isn’t purely reformulating of what has gone before; this woman isn’t the next version of whomever but purely the first Samantha Fish! Just brilliant.
Comments