16 May 2019 (gig)
17 May 2019
Samantha Fish’s show at the Borderline last year has been raised to legendary status by all who were there and I was really looking forward to her transfer to the much larger Garage. There certainly was no problem in selling the place out and it was pretty well packed all the way to the bar at the back of the hall.
The result was as electrifying as the Borderline show – she is a stunning performer, charismatic and with a voice that seems to cover all the range from husky soul queen to country twang and even some dirty hard rock vocals. All that sits alongside her superb guitar playing – the lady standing next to me commented that “she seemed to have grabbed all the goodies off the shelf” but she was enjoying the show just as much as the gathered 600.
The set covered numbers from all her previous albums as well as a taste of the new one – out soon – ‘Kill Or Be Kind’.
She took the brave step to open with ‘Bulletproof’ from the new set and it went down a storm with the crowd. ‘Chills and Fever’ followed, swinging straight into a jazzy and sultry groove.
‘Wild Heart’ came in to bring on the country rock sound and at that point she had the audience eating out of her hand. Lots of whoops and spontaneous clapping – not the cheesy type led by the singer – and even though the space was limited, there were a whole bunch of people dancing and getting their groove on.
The set went on with numbers from all her albums and the intensity of the show just built along with the crowd’s appreciation and obvious enjoyment.
Samantha Fish is an artist of really rare talent and she has built up quite a following; this show proved that she is no longer an ‘up and comer’ but a fully fledged star.
The evening opened with a short set from Curse Of Lono and they may have been unfamiliar to a lot of the audience at the start of their set but by the end they had gathered a whole lot of new fans. They really are unclassifiable, with Felix vocals dark and harsh at one moment and softer and passionate the next. Charis Anderson delivers a dark bass sound. The audience lapped them up with ‘Valentine’ going down particularly well.
Picture by Backstage Flash.
