What a difference a day
makes, as Dinah Washington sang. In
which case, how much difference can three years make?
The last time I saw Samantha
Fish live was in 2014, about this time of year, on an another cold night in
Edinburgh. She was supporting Mike Zito,
in an uncomfortably large venue for the size of audience, and borrowing his
rhythm section. As good as she was, and
as good as Rob Lee and Scot Sutherland from The Wheel are, tonight's performance was
from a whole other dimension. Sam Fish
has matured hugely in the intervening years.
Samantha Fish - have a cigar, boy |
Whether it’s working with
other producers and musicians, or honing her skills through incessant touring,
young Ms Fish has become a band leader, full of poise and confidence to go
with her vocal and guitar skills.
And what skills. As a singer, Sam Fish is astonishing. With her range and control, soaring and
swooping with incredible clarity, she has a singular vocal style. And she makes the most of it with her
delivery, telling stories expressively, whether it’s the cute humour of ‘Chills
And Fever’, the smoky call and response passage with Mark Levron’s trumpet on
‘You’ll Never Change’, or the stunning simplicity of ‘Go Home’. How the hell she turns this in night after
night is beyond me. Take good care of
that voice girl.
As for the guitar, anyone
thinking that song selections from the soul’n’rhythm’blues led Chills and Fever
and the Americana-spun Belle Of The West would be lightweight reckoned without
the rollicking rock’n’roll of her soloing on ‘Little Baby’, complemented by
great bass runs from Chris Alexander. Or
the slide guitar on ‘Blame It On The Moon’, building into a southern rock style
crescendo before falling away into a delicate piano coda from Phil Breen. Or the extended and inventive, effects-tinged
solo in a slowed down segment of ‘Somebody’s Always Trying’. Or the big licks with cigar box guitar on set
closer ‘Crow Jane’. Or – well, you get the picture.
For me the absolute pick of
the set, where all this comes together, is the aching torch song ‘Nearer To
You’, culminating in a gut-wrenching finale of wailing vocals, interleaved with
wild guitar that’s underpinned by walloping drumming from Kenny Tudrick. It’s a performance that completely transcends
the album version.
Not much point in being a
good band leader unless you have a crack band, of course, and
the boys backing
the front lady deliver on that front, deserving their showcases on ‘It’s Your
Voodoo Working’, Breen kicking off with a wicked organ solo. Levron and sax man Travis Blotsky offer up an
impressive horn duel, and Chris Alexander a cracking bass solo – and that’s a
phrase I don’t use very often – before Tudrick does a brief but telling bit of
tub thumping. Alexander in particular offers a good foil for his boss, grooving
and grinning in equal measure throughout.
Acoustic, Americana, stunning simplicity |
As for the audience, she
develops an effortless rapport with them, playful and funny, down to earth –
and visibly into it, with her stylish
Marilyn-style mop flailing around as she gets stuck in to a solo.
Regrets – I have a few. Nice to have her do a solo acoustic number
for sure, but I reckon Belle Of The West offers stronger options than ‘Blood In
The Water’, such as ‘Need You More’. I’d
have loved to hear her amped up version of ‘Gone For Good’ as well. And it’s a shame she turns her back on
material from before Wild Heart, as there’s still really good stuff in there,
such as ‘Kick Around’.
There are times though, when
you just need to take your sense of proportion, and chuck it out the window. And when the crowd were roaring “Right now,
right now” on cue, as Sam and co rocked out on final encore ‘Bitch On The Run’,
that time had long since passed. Don’t be a stranger Samantha.
Read the review of Belle Of The West here.
Read the Blues Enthused interview with Samantha Fish here.
Agree with every word. Sam was on fire throughout. Iwas at the previous gig too and this was a huge transformation and she was brilliant then! Saw her on the Girls with Guitars tour at Kinross earlier too....One of the reasons have been following her since.. Steve Cobbett
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