By David O’Neill
This was another gig I had been looking forward to since it was announced. The Zac Schulz gang should have been on the Steelhouse bill in July but they were asked to tour North America with Samantha Fish, a real no brainer of a decision, so this is the ÜK leg of that tour.
Having developed a reputation as a great blues guitarist, the opening track was Rory Gallagher’s ‘Laundromat’, a hell of an act to follow but it was a very good opening. Their upbeat track ‘Woman’ was next up. Whilst Zac looks like Brian Johnson of AC/DC with his flat hat on, he can certainly play guitar. An original real old fashion blues track, ‘Hole In My Pocket’ was next up.
The set was mainly covers, however, with ‘Walking The Dog’ (Rufus Thomas), ‘She Does It Right (Dr Feelgood), ‘Messing With The Kid (Mel London/Rory Gallagher) and Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh Well’ also being featured, alongside the other original ‘Ballyshannon Blues’. Altogether a good set of blues tracks played really well.
As usual for Samantha Fish, she started off with ‘Kick Out The Jams’, a real crowd pleaser.
‘Better Be Lonely’ was next up, some real grit in her voice supplements the intention in the lyrics as well as the guitar riffs. ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ is a slower, but no less impressively written and performed song with a grungy/blues riff at the breakdown. There is hardly time to draw breath before ‘Watch It Die’ further emphasizes her vocal range and guitar skill.
I really like the cigar box guitar sound on ‘Bulletproof’,as well as the vocal performance.
Ending the set with ‘Black Wind Howlin’ shows her ability to play prolonged guitar parts to an exceptionally high standard for almost ten minutes.
With the release of ‘I Put A Spell On You‘ just before the tour kicked off it had to be in the encore, and so it was, and so did she put a spell on everyone in the audience with her vocal performance of the Nina Simone classic wit the addition of some outstanding guitar playing. Just simply wow!
Zac Shulze joined her on the last track ‘Goin Down South’ and with a prolonged duelling guitars section in the middle it was easy to see why they did it, not a note missed and smiling all the way throughout the track. This really was a great way to end another fabulous night in the company of Ms Fish.
Samantha Fish is a superbly talented singer/ songwriter/guitarist and I always come away feeling more impressed than the last time. The tour continues throughout Europe in October/November, then the ÜS until the end of the year. If you like blues you’ll love it. No, if you like good music, you will love it.
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