SAMANTHA FISH LIVE AT THE QUEEN’S HALL, EDINBURGH
John Scott steps out to shake ‘em all down with Samantha Fish. It’s a tough life but someone has to do it.
The story goes: Jimi Hendrix was asked what it was like to be the greatest guitarist in the world. His reply?: “Ask Rory Gallagher”. If Jimi were still with us, he could do worse than to point people in the direction of Samantha Fish; like Jimi and Rory, Samantha puts more feeling into a handful of notes than many guitarists manage in a lifetime.
It’s Samantha’s first time at The Queen’s Hall and she’s attracted a near-sellout crowd. She kicks the show off with Bulletproof, the opening track from her 2019 album Kill Or Be Kind, unleashing a gritty riff from her 4-string cigar box guitar. Sporting the pink leopard print suit that she wears on the album cover, Samantha is showcasing her new album Faster. If the album has a glossy production, reminiscent of ZZ Top’s Eliminator with elements of Wendy and Lisa’s slinky pop-funk, played live, the songs are stripped of their production polish, crackling with a feral life force.
Veteran bassist Ron Johnson (Santana, Buddy Miles, Gregg Alman), dressed in black from boots to bolero hat, prowls his corner of the stage like a renegade preacher, armed with elasticated basslines instead of a bible. Drummer Sarah Tomek attacks every beat with evident relish, sometimes driving forward, sometimes dragging back, to provide an irresistible groove. Matt Wade on keys smiles with the air of a man who knows that he’s just getting on with business, underpinning each song with classy organ and electric piano lines.
“We’re going old-school,” says Samantha, laying out an old soul deep cut from 1963, Barbara Lewis’ Hello Stranger, showing that she’s far from just a blues guitarist but has a fine soul voice as well. During the song she takes the opportunity to say hello to Edinburgh, she explains that she had got some online stick for mispronouncing the city’s name so she wants us to know that she’s learned how to say it correctly. She follows up with one of her own old-school songs Highway’s Holding Me Now which stretches way, way back to 2015.
As her white Gibson SG goes off for a bit of TLC (it’s had a pretty thorough workout so far), Samantha switches to acoustic guitar for a cover of Neil Young’s Don’t Let It Bring You Down. Starting as a fairly gentle acoustic number, the SG makes its return halfway through and a quick guitar switchover turns the song into the kind of electric maelstrom that Neil Young and Crazy Horse would be proud of.
We’re heading into the home straight now; Bitch On The Run ramps up the intensity, Dream Girl brings mild respite and a slide workout, and Black Wind Howlin’ smacks down a lascivious groove in the style of Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile.
There is, of course, an encore. We are back to the cigar box boogie for a cover of Bukka White’s Shake ‘Em On Down, which, it goes without saying, we do. Looking around at the faces in the audience confirms that we have experienced something very special. I’m pretty certain that Jimi and Rory would agree.
Setlist
Bulletproof
Better Be Lonely
Twisted Ambition
Love Letters
Hello Stranger
Highway’s Holding Me Now
Hypnotic
No Angels
Don’t Let It Bring You Down
Bitch on the Run
Dream Girl
Black Wind Howlin’
Shake ‘Em on Down
Words and photos: John Scott
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