Having heard of Samantha Fish and how highly she is rated on the guitar she is, this is our first opportunity in seeing her live, and let me say it was well worth the wait. The first thing you notice if you haven’t seen any photos of her is the blonde Marilyn Monroe styled haircut, and not for her ambling on in a pair of jeans and scruffy t-shirt, she is as we have seen in many pictures of her, always dressed in some fantastic clothes, and to be honest I can’t say I’ve seen her in the same clothes twice. Her wardrobe bill and size must be immense, but back to why we are here, the music. Firstly, having arrived halfway through the support Wille And The Bandits, found the room quite full and enjoying Willie, and I’m not surprised they are an excellent live band, with a great vocalist and really good tunes. This band is now on our to do list to catch in the New Year when they return to Brum, and to download their albums.

Now for Ms Fish, striding on in tight black leather trousers and black jacket with spikes all over it, tick on the fashion side. Picking up a cigar box guitar and straight into the very infectious ‘Bulletproof’, it was obvious we were in for a great night. She is often cited as a Blues artist, but is far more than that, for a start don’t expect gravelly trad Blues vocals. Her style is more subtle and has a fantastic range. Her music covers all genres of music, take the track ‘Chills And Fever’, with a very sassy almost seductive vocal, to ‘Highways Holding Me Now’, rocky, and the very funky ‘Hypnotic’, then back to Blues of ‘No Angels’ and the country tinged ‘Dream Girl’. This girl covers the lot and all through it, superb guitar work proving she is up there with the best, make no mistake.

Although the good-sized crowd were originally appreciative but polite as Ms Fish stated, saying you had better “step up” as the record company were in with a few choice expletives added, but this was the only time this was needed as the enthralled audience bought into the rest of the night with abandonment. And like us they didn’t want it to end, but it had to and as part of the encore she covered ‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down’, the Neil Young tune, with an absolutely searing guitar solo, proving just how versatile this woman is, before ending the night to rapturous applause. Very impressive and if it wasn’t for having another gig arranged for Sunday, we would definitely be going to Nottingham Rock City for another dose of Ms Fish, she was that good.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe