Samantha Fish
An inspired and crowd-thrilling set.
Generally accepted as being one of the most dynamic blues-rock guitarists in the world today, Grammy-nominated Samantha Fish returned to Norwich on Monday night, a full four years after her last visit to the city, and produced a blistering start to the week at Epic Studios. She was last in the city in 2020, when she and her band played The Waterfront and, to her credit, she had remembered how to correctly pronounce our city's name. This is the fourth night of her ten date UK tour, which concludes in Edinburgh on October 13th before heading across the Channel to Europe.
Opening the evening is the Zac Schulze Gang, a UK blues trio from Gillingham in Kent (not the Gillingham near Beccles), featuring Zac on vocals and lead guitar, his brother Ben on drums, and the amazing Anthony Greenwell on six-string bass. Their sound is classic 70's blues rock, and the influence of acts like Dr Feelgood and Rory Gallagher are there to be heard, along with classic rock acts like AC/DC and Thin Lizzy. As well as showcasing their own excellent material they also turn in a beautifully mellow and moody version of the Rufus Thomas classic, 'Walking The Dog'.
Samantha Fish and her band deliver an inspired and crowd-thrilling set, drawing on numbers from most of her back catalogue, including tracks from 'Black Wind Howlin', 'Wild Heart', 'Belle of The West', 'Kill Or Be Kind' and 'Faster'. Fish is a powerful force on stage – dressed in black, her blonde hair catching the light as she belts out the vocals whilst nimbly wringing out amazing sounds from her guitar, whilst Mickey Finn hits the keys, Ron Johnson produces the sweet bass notes, and Jamie Douglas thrashes the drums like Monster from The Muppets. From the opening cover of MC5's 'Kick Out The Jams' to the final bars of 'Black Wind Howlin', Samantha Fish is on fire. Pausing only to change guitars, she rattles through the set list at breakneck speed, slowing only for the acoustic cover of the Charley Patton song 'Jim Lee Blues', and the soulful 'Somebody's Always Tryin'. Norwich audiences may be notoriously more restrained than their American counterparts, and this is not because we are not appreciative – it is because we are good listeners. It does, though, at times seem to perplex Fish, who seems to be struggling to gauge the vibe of her Norfolk audience, and at several points attempts to provoke a more frenzied response from her clearly appreciative, but somewhat polite, Monday night audience.
However, we do get an encore, and it includes a spine-tingling cover of the Screaming Jay Hawkins cover 'I Put A Spell On You', before Fish is joined on stage by Jay Schulze for a classic closing rendition of the classic R L Burnside blues song, 'Goin' Down South'.
I have to admit, I went to this gig more out of musical curiosity than burning desire, but came away with a renewed and enhanced appreciation of blues rock, as well as great respect for Samantha Fish, and for her and her band's inspirational and virtuosic performances. Highly recommended.
