Samantha Fish - Bulletproof Tour 2024
The Majestic, Fort Smith, Arkansas, August 8, 2024
Over the past several years, Samantha Fish has performed in Arkansas (Little Rock, Fort Smith and Fayetteville) several times, most recently with Jesse Dayton on their Death Wish 2024 Tour appearance at TempleLive, Fort Smith, Arkansas, July 21, 2023. A very different Samantha Fish returned to Fort Smith’s Majestic on Thursday evening, August 8, 2024. While Fish and Dayton possessed a certain chemistry, it was not comparable to what each conjured apart. One listen to Dayton’s On Fire In Nashville (Blue Elan, 2019) reveals a more complete and interesting artist. Fish expressed the same quality on this muggy late summer night.
Fish’s set opening was predictable and comparable to her earlier shows in her Bulletproof Tour. MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” has proven a durable opener with Fish rapidly turning up the gas to achieve a steaming simmer. She steers through her entire discography, addressing a muscular “Wild Heart” (Wild Heart (Ruf Records, 2015)), while blazing through “Better Be Lonely” (Faster (Rounder, 2021)), “Hello Stranger” and “Never Gonna Cry” (Chills & Fever (Ruf Records, 2017)), “Bulletproof” (Kill Or Be Kind (Rounder, 2019), “Miles To Go” (Black Wind Howling (Ruf Records, 2013)), “Kill Or Be Kind” and “Watch It Die” (Kill Or Be Kind). Characteristically, Fish has multiple instrument changes, relying most on her white Gibson SG.
The singer breaks her momentum by picking up her acoustic guitar and reaching back to Wild Heart to perform Charlie Patton’s 1930 nine-bar blues, “Jim Lee Blues, Part 1” (Paramount Records). This nod to the progenitors thrilled the audience, whetting the anticipation building for Fish’s tour de force ride to the show’s coda. After a biting “Need You More” from Belle Of The West (Ruf Records, 2917) this singer launched a searing performance of Neil Young’s “Don’t Let It Bring You down” from his After The Gold Rush (Reprise, 1970). This is the recent addition to the set and one that Fish takes for advantage of in grand style. This performance was no mild folkie tome. Fish transforms it into a seething blues ballad strategically near the end of the show.
Relentless in her journey, Fish follows with some North Mississippi Hills blues from R.L. Burnside, “Po’ Black Mattie” with originally appeared on her Belle Of The West album. Without taking a breath, the singer launched into her crowd favorite, “I Put A Spell On You,” eclipsing “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” as the show’s barnburner. She closed the show with her “Black Wind Howlin’” before her encore of R.L. Burnside’s “Goin’ Down South” from that master’s A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey (Matador, 1996). Samantha Fish continues to be a stylish keeper of the flame for blues-rock music in its eclipse.
Setlist: “Kick Out The Jams” (MC5 Cover), “Wild Heart,” “Better Be Lonely,” “Hello Stranger,” “Never Gonna Cry,” “Bulletproof,” “Miles To Go,” “Kill Or Be Kind,” “Watch It Die,” “Jim Lee Blues, Part 1” (Charlie Patton Cover) “Need You More,” “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” (Neil Young Cover), “Po’ Black Mattie” (R.L. Burnside), “I Put A Spell On You” (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins Cover), “Black Wind Howlin’.” Encore: “Goin’ Down South” (R.L. Burnside Cover).
Musicians: Samantha Fish: guitars, lead vocals; Ron Johnson: bass; Jamie Douglas: drums; Mickey Finn: keyboards.