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29th June at 7pm - The BluTone Band Plays Oakington Village Day

 
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Blutone review of Samantha Fish at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire


 Last night I visited on of my favourite live music venues, The O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire to see Blues Rock and Roots musician, Samantha Fish.


I have been following the progress of Samantha Fish for years.  Being Stateside I haven't been able to see her live and have only had her records and YouTube clips to rely on.  If I am really honest, I saw her as someone who was significant in the industry but the recorded work didn't fully resonate with me and this has puzzled me because I have found her work to be interesting with the use of multiple types of guitars including her trademark Cigar Box Guitar, but the music, at least when accessed remotely and not live left me a little flat.



Skip on a few years and Samantha has honed her crafted, rebranded into this 1950's esque look that is perfect for her and in 2021 she released her 10th album, Faster that followed the critically acclaimed album from 2019, Kill Or Be Kind.

Produced by Martin Kierszenbaum (Lady Gaga, Sting) Samantha was pushed hard to develop something different from before and her latest album whilst is more commercial, cleverly interweaves Blues, Rock and Country influences that makes her ever more appealing to the masses.  I enjoyed the album, the song-writing is masterful and the sonic landscape behind the words is exceptional mixing rootsy guitars with more modern synth like sounds.

So what was Samantha Fish like live?

I really wasn't sure what to expect, but when she came on stage, she absolutely captivated the audience,
Samantha Fish

seemed grateful to be on that stage (although she deserves far more recognition than she currently has) and talked with us all like we were old friends.  The band was tight and she opened her set with Bulletproof the opening song from Kill Or Be Kind and from this point, for me, it felt like I was riding a intoxicating sonic wave all the way to when the band closed.
A high point for me was when she gave the band a break and did some old school Blues on her acoustic and I was especially intrigued by the teamwork of the band and more specifically the communication between Samantha and Sarah Tomek (Drums) that really accelerated the rhythm and lead lines.

It was a stunning gig and I can't wait to see Samantha and her band on tour again.

The line-up was as follows:


Samantha Fish - Guitar & Vocals
Sarah Tomek - Drums & Backing Vocals
Matt Wade - Keys & Backing Vocals
Ron Johnson - Bass

Samantha's gear from what I could see ...

Cigar Box Guitar - 'Stoneybox Blues Guitar'

Samantha was playing through a Fender Deluxe Reverb amplifier.


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Location: Shepherd's Bush, London W12, UK

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