PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Things didn’t get off to a great start tonight as the auditorium doors remained closed even a few minutes before the scheduled start time of 8pm. Finally an announcement was made – tonight’s support act, The Rainbreakers, would not be playing. That was a disappointment, but on the plus side, Samantha Fish would be starting her headline set earlier than planned. It may have been a cold rainy Monday night but the venue was fairly full which is always good to see.
Once things got started though, the absence of The Rainbreakers was quickly forgotten. Samantha Fish took to the stage backed by a band consisting of a drummer, bass player, keyboard player, a saxophone player and a trumpet player. Guitar duties were handled by Samantha Fish herself along with the vocals. She’s played this venue before as part of the Girls with Guitars tour, but it’s her first time bringing her own band.
Normally when an artist is on tour they have a new album to promote, but Samantha Fish has been busy and has two new albums to promote – “Chills & Fever” which was released earlier this year, and “Belle of the West” which came out just a few days ago. They’re very different albums – “Belle of the west” has a lot more of a country feel to it, whereas “Chills & Fever” is blues and is a lot more lively. The “Chills & Fever” album is quite prominent in tonight’s set, and what a set it is.
If you’ve only listened to the “Belle of the west” album you’ll know that Samantha Fish has a great voice, but what you won’t have heard is just how powerful it is. The show tonight really shows off the power in her voice as well as the range of styles she can sing.
Samantha Fish isn’t just a singer though – she’s also a guitarist, and doesn’t even have a rhythm guitarist to back her up – she’s the only one up there playing guitar, and she does an excellent job of it.
Is it blues, is it rock, is it country, is it soul? The answer is yes – it’s all of those and more. She takes elements of all those genres and seamlessly blends them together. Blues and rock are probably the main elements, but particularly with the horns and some of her vocals there is a soul feel to parts of it too, and when she plays songs from the “Belle of the west” album the country influence is clear to hear.
The brass section is a fairly recent addition to her shows but it really adds a lot to the show.
Tonight was a great night. Samantha Fish and her band put in an excellent performance and went down very well with the audience. If the applause and cheering wasn’t enough proof that they’d enjoyed the show, the long queues at the merchandise stand and to get stuff signed after the show were a clear sign that people enjoyed it.
[flickrapi user=”planet mosh” get=”photoset” id=”72157690819610736″ size=”z” count=”100″]
