Whenever I cover an artist for the second, third, fourth, or whatever time, my pre-show prep always starts the same way: I reread my previous reviews of their shows. I do that for several reasons, but mainly to make sure each new review brings something fresh to the table.
While rereading my reviews of Samantha Fish’s 2023 and 2025 shows, something caught me off guard. Fish played the Gothic in Englewood in September 2023, and I called it the best show I had seen to that point that year. In September 2025, she played the Arvada Center one night and the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins two nights later. I covered those two shows in a single review and called them the best shows I had seen so far that year.
In case that makes it sound like I call every show I see “the best blah, blah, blah,” I absolutely do not. People ask me all the time, “What’s the best show…,” and I always dodge the question. I try hard not to compare shows by different artists. So making the same “best show of the year” call in back-to-back reviews of shows by the same artist surprised even me.
So what does that say about the kind of show Samantha Fish delivers?
It’s one year, almost to the day, since Fish did those two shows in three nights in Arvada and FOCO. This time it was two shows in three nights in Colorado Springs and Boulder. Last Wednesday, Fish and her bandmates took the stage at the Phil Long Music Hall in Colorado Springs. Two nights later, they were in Boulder for a show at the Boulder Theater. As I did last year, I’m lumping these two shows together into a single review.
The two shows were part of Fish’s Paper Doll Live Tour, so it was only natural that the album would provide much of their foundation. Five songs from 2025’s Paper Doll album appeared in Wednesday night’s set, followed by four on Friday, giving both performances a clear connection to the tour’s central theme. But Fish used that framework as a starting point rather than a limitation. Both setlists reached deeply into her back catalog, moving beyond the newer material to revisit songs from across her career—including selections from the stylistically distinctive Chills & Fever and Belle of the West albums.
That balance gave the two performances a broader sense of scope. The Paper Doll songs represented Fish’s current artistic direction, while the older selections showed how much ground she has covered—and how willing she remains to bring that variety into a live setting. Rather than presenting a narrowly defined snapshot of one album, Fish shaped each night as a survey of her musical evolution, with the setlists connecting her blues-rock foundation to the soul, roots, country, and Americana influences that have continually expanded her sound.
Both nights featured 13 songs—12 in the main set plus a one-song encore—and ran an hour and a half. Each show opened with two songs from Paper Doll, the title track followed by “I’m Done Runnin’,” closed with the title track from 2013’s Black Wind Howlin’, and returned for Bukka White’s “Shake ’Em On Down” as the encore. (You can see the full setlists, with changes between the nights highlighted in blue, in the photo gallery below.)
Personally, I preferred Friday’s Boulder setlist to Wednesday’s Colorado Springs set, largely because it included Fish’s take on Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You.” Whenever she brings that song into the show, it tends to become a highlight, giving her room to stretch both vocally and on guitar. I also liked the swap of “Chills & Fever” for “Hello Stranger.” “Chills & Fever” is a fabulous song, but this was the first time I had heard Fish perform “Hello Stranger,” and it landed as a genuinely welcome surprise.
Another welcome surprise was “Miles To Go” from Black Wind Howlin’, which appeared eighth in the set both nights. The up tempo rocker was the second straight song to feature Fish on one of her signature cigar box guitars, following the live favorite “Bulletproof” from 2019’s Kill Or Be Kind.
The depth of the setlists was only part of what made the two performances compelling. Their impact ultimately came from the way Fish and her band brought those songs to life. Mickey Finn on keys and bassist Ron Johnson provided a relaxed, understated foundation, giving the music room to breathe without competing for attention. Drummer Jamie Douglass supplied the contrast: animated and visibly energetic, he brought a kinetic presence to the stage that continually pushed the performances forward.
At the center of it all was Fish, whose guitar playing remained the shows’ most commanding element. She moved comfortably between restraint and eruption, shaping each song with sharp riffs, expressive fills, and searing lead work rather than relying on volume alone. Her vocals were just as important to the performances. Fish delivered the material with a combination of grit, authority, and emotional directness, adapting her voice to the different shades of the setlist while maintaining a distinct identity throughout. The result was a band dynamic in which Finn and Johnson’s laid-back control and Douglass’s restless energy gave Fish the space—and the momentum—to dominate the stage. That chemistry turned strong setlists into something more immediate—and helped explain why Fish keeps setting such a high bar live.
And that’s the thing about Samantha Fish at this point: the surprise is no longer that she delivers a great show. The surprise is how consistently she finds new ways to make that greatness feel immediate. Across two Colorado nights, she gave the Paper Doll material a living, breathing place onstage while reminding the crowd just how deep the rest of her catalog runs.
So if I hesitate to call another Samantha Fish performance one of the year’s best, it is not because the case is hard to make. It is because, with Fish, that almost starts to feel less like a verdict than a pattern—and a pretty remarkable one at that.
Story and photos by Rick Witt www.rickwittphotography.com
