American blues artist Samantha Fish – Brighton concert report

SAMANTHA FISH + WILLE & THE BANDITS – CHALK, BRIGHTON 18.10.22

It’s a long way from Kansas City to Brighton, but finally after a couple of years away from these shores Samantha Fish and her band returned to the South Coast. Many fans had been waiting for this show following Covid limitations and restrictions on live events and had been retaining their tickets in anticipation for what was likely to be a storming show. They were not to be disappointed.

Striding on the Chalk stage, dressed all in red leather this ‘Scarlet lady’ had a point to prove and she was taking no prisoners.

From the chopping opening riff of set opener ‘Bulletproof’, Samantha and her band set out the standard for the night and this was a high bar from the start. The set comprised of songs from across the wide spectrum of her career so far and encompassed something from the last six albums, providing a taste of the development of her as a guitarist and singer, although there was obviously a predomination towards her more recent albums, ‘Faster’, issued in 2021 with four songs featuring from that album and three from previous album, ‘Kill Or Be Kind’.

This album was introduced through her next two numbers with the continuing heavy blues of ‘All Ice No Whiskey’ being followed by the thundering ‘Twisted Ambition’, with full force soloing tearing the venue up and creating an atmospheric rise in the audience as they got into the rhythm of the set.

After a blistering opening, Samantha slowed matters up for a couple of minutes with the title track of her ‘Chills & Fever’ album. This was a smoke laden blues number that could have been played in any downtown New Orleans bar and allowed the band to open up to show their own individual versatilities.

Following a guitar change we returned to the earlier full tempo rock n’ roll with the title track from the latest album ‘ Faster.’

From picking to slide and with no pedals to embellish her sound, she let her fingers do the talking. Samantha Fish is a lady who is comfortable whether rocking out, finger picking or easing down into sultry slower tempo tunes such as ‘Don’t Say You Love Me’.

With one final visit to her latest album with ‘Better Be Lonely’, Samantha played with the crowd, the tone of her vocals teasing and playful. We were then into the crowd pleasers starting with two tracks from the ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ album, starting with the title track which took the vibe down a notch or two and showed the softer side of her voice, although allowing her to stretch her vocal range which was only matched by her exquisite guitar work.

With a yell of “Let me see those hands in the air. Let me hear you scream” Samantha turned the tempo up to eleven with crowd favourite, ‘Bitch On The Run’, creating a heaving mass of ecstatic fans. With a chorus line of “Right now, right now I’m feelin’ it”, it was clear that everyone in the venue was “feelin’ it”.

The venue sound was excellent with all instruments clearly outlined. Samantha’s voice was strong and penetrating, and at other times soft, gentle or teasing.

With an opportunity to take a breath on the Teri Thornton cover of ‘Either Way I Lose’, we found ourselves at set closer ‘Black Wind Howlin’, which enabled Samantha to open up and let rip, producing a note perfect, high energy closer.

Ninety minutes played, twelve songs down and it was all over. Sadly, no encore was available due to a venue curfew and we were back into the cooling night, taking the buzz from the venue with us. If you get the opportunity to see Samantha Fish in the future, grasp it, you won’t regret a minute.

Band:
Samantha Fish – Vocals, lead guitar, slide guitar
Matt Wade – Keyboards/Piano
Sarah Tomek – Drums
Ron Johnson – Bass

Samantha Fish setlist:
‘Bulletproof’ (from 2019 ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ album)
‘All Ice No Whiskey’ (from 2021 ‘Faster’ album)
‘Twisted Ambition’ (from 2021 ‘Faster’ album)
‘Chills & Fever’ (from 2017 ‘Chills & Fever’ album)
‘Faster’ (from 2021 ‘Faster’ album)
‘Don’t Say You Love Me’ (from 2017 ‘Belle Of The West’ album)
‘Better Be Lonely’ (from 2021 ‘Faster’ album)
‘Kill Or Be Kind’ (from 2019 ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ album)
‘Watch It Die’ (from 2019 ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ album)
‘Bitch On The Run’ (from 2015 ‘Wild Heart’ album)
‘Either Way I Lose’ (Teri Thornton cover) (from 2017 ‘Chills & Fever’ album)
‘Black Wind Howlin’’ (from 2013 ‘Black Wind Howlin’’ album)

www.samanthafish.com/tour

Support tonight came from Wille & The Bandits who are a UK based blues rock band emanating from the West Country. They had the tough job of opening the night and warming up the audience. It is fair to say they more than succeeded. In a fifty minute set they highlighted a number of tunes taken from four of their five studio albums. Perhaps classifying them with the blues rock title is a little unfair as this is a band that oozes musical diversity. This is a band that may take the traditional approach to the blues, but have added their own individual style and stamp on it. They are not afraid to take musical chances and that approach saw a very differing, individualistic set of songs that will take the listener out of their traditional comfort zone and encourage them to spread their musical influences and preconceived ideas wider.

The set started out with two tracks from their latest album ‘When The World Stood Still’. ‘Caught In The Middle’ is a heavy riffed blues rock which edged into a hip-hop style before roaring into a seventies style vocal. This followed into ‘Refuge’ with its sing along chorus. Interestingly, both songs were drawn from recent lock down frustrations and experiences. ‘Keep It On The Down-Low’ took us back to the ‘Paths’ album and saw the band taking a funkier approach. Despite coming from the UK, this was a tune that dripped with the blues of the deep south crossed with a deep funk rhythm.

For the next number the tempo dropped slightly with ‘Still Go Marching In’, a thought-provoking slow blues ballad with a refrain of “When will that rainbow come”, which initiated the first audience singalong of the night.

‘Judgement Day’ segued into ‘4 Million Days’ and saw Wille take up some slide guitar. These were two mid-tempo pieces that interwoven added a soft folk feel before delving into a ‘Springsteenesque’ style balladry.

‘Good Stuff’ saw the tempo rise again with the audience clapping along to a tune that comes over as a great road number. It is a strong driving rock song interspersed with cool slide guitar. Imagine a sunny summer afternoon, an open top Chevy and a road opening up before you …you get the picture.

The set finished with two numbers from the ‘Steal’ album, ‘1970’ and ‘Bad News’. ‘1970’ quite seamlessly followed on from good stuff with a feel good boogie edge which got the growing audience rocking out. ‘Bad News’ closed the set and was the perfect end number, building on the hard driving rock of the last couple of songs, with the band now preaching to a receptive audience. By the end we were witnessing a band that had thrown down the gauntlet to the headliner and an audience that had been completely won over and ready for the main event.

Band:
Wille Edwards – Lead Vocals, Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar
Matthew Gallagher – Keyboards, Guitar,
Harry Mackaill – Bass
Tom Gilkes – Drums

Wille & The Bandits setlist:
‘Caught In The Middle’ (from 2021 ‘When The World Stood Still’ album)
‘Refuge’ (from 2021 ‘When The World Stood Still’ album)
‘Keep It On The Downlow’ (from 2019 ‘Paths’ album)
‘Still Go Marching In’ (from 2013 ‘Grow’ album)
‘Judgement Day’/’4 Million Days’ (from 2019 ‘Paths’ album)
‘Good Stuff’ (from 2021 ‘When The World Stood Still’ album)
‘1970’ (from 2017 ‘Steal’ album)
‘Bad News’ (from 2017 ‘Steal’ album)

www.willeandthebandits.com