Firstly, an apology. I was really looking forward to seeing The Zac Schulze Gang open for Samantha Fish, but being stationary behind an accident on London’s North Circular Road for an hour put paid to that.
This was the first chance for me to see Samantha Fish since her duo tour with Jesse Dayton in 2023. She has long been an artist I’ve admired, for doing things with blues music that are a little left field or unusual. The Shepherd’s Bush Empire was packed as she took to the stage with a high energy version of MC5’s Kick Out The Jams. This was followed by Paper Doll, the title track of the current album and of the tour.
This musically and lyrically is what I like of Samantha, a song that is complex musically and with a telling lyric. Then followed two more songs from the Paper Doll album – I’m Done Runnin’ and Sweet Southern Sounds – there was a different guitar for every song, and I’m not sure what difference they made until the cigar box guitar appeared, together with the distort mic, for a stand-out performance of Bulletproof. This was a performance majoring on energy, and the song has an irresistible driving riff.
Other highlights were Fortune Teller and Dream Girl, but these more atmospheric numbers were a little lost under what has become a very annoying factor of going to gigs in London in recent years: the sheer level of chatter and laughter coming from the audience throughout. Perhaps this is why the PA sound was driving so loud it was distorted and made it impossible to hear what was going on for extended sections – certainly there was a Hammond organ on the stage that I didn’t hear all night. This was a shame and stole the music of plenty of the subtlety that is on her records, but there is no doubt that judging by the size of the audience the word is out about Samantha Fish. I hope in the future she can manage to maximise her audience and yet still be able to retain the nuance and quirkiness of a lot of her music.
Words: Paul Long | Pics: Phil Honley
