The reviews I write for Denver Entertainment Hub are generally between 800 and 1,000 words long. But sometimes you can say it all with just a single word. Like “WOW.” As I began working on my review of Samantha Fish’s show from this past Saturday night at the Gothic Theatre, that’s the thought that immediately came to mind.
Samantha Fish has been hanging out in Denver – and even more so across the state of Colorado – a lot lately. This past Saturday’s show was the third time in sixteen months Fish has graced stages in Denver and Boulder. I have had the distinct pleasure of covering all three of those shows. The first two were outstanding. But this one? I’m telling you, this one was at another level altogether. As we were leaving the theater, I talked to several people who said the same thing… this was the best Samantha Fish show they had ever seen.
What made it so special? Fish said it best herself, about two-thirds of the way through the set, when she explained that this is the first tour she’s done not in support of a specific new album release. For that reason, she crafted a setlist where she could draw from her complete catalog, without the requirement to focus on anything in particular. In her words, she could “play anything I want.”
The result was a 17-song setlist, clocking in at a whopping hour and fifty minutes, which included songs from six different albums, ranging from 2013’s Black Wind Howlin’ to 2021’s Faster, plus covers from Charley Patton, Gladys Knight, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. And it wasn’t just that the set was long and diverse. It was electric, from start to finish. Fish took the crowd on a roller coaster ride that left all of us delightfully exhausted.
Fish and company took the stage at 9:15, following an impressive and highly crowd-pleasing 45-minute opening set from Eric Johanson. As I rule, I generally don’t provide a lot of coverage for opening acts. That’s not because they don’t deserve it. It’s just that I’m allowed only so many words. But in this case, I absolutely must spend some time talking about Johanson.
Johanson opened for Fish when she performed at the Boulder Theater back in January. That night he was a one-man show, and I was impressed enough by him to call him out in my review of Sam’s show. This time he is traveling with his own three-piece band and was even more impressive. His nine-song set, which drew heavily from his recently released album, The Deep And The Dirty, was headliner quality. If you like blues rock – and if you are reading this review, I cannot imagine you don’t – you need to check this guy out. Head to his website (https://www.ericjohanson.com/), where you will find several extremely tasty music videos.
Back to Sam’s set…
I will admit that when Fish took the stage, I had a moment or two of concern. Sam’s had the same backing band for many years, but on this night two members of that band were missing in action. Replacing regular drummer Sarah Tomek and keyboard player Matt Wade were (respectively) Jamie Douglass and Mickey Finn, both from the Samantha Fish/Jesse Dayton co-helmed Death Wish Blues Band. Regular bass player Ron Johnson was there, but the absence of Tomek and Wade gave me pause.
I need not have worried. Douglass and Finn were rock solid, and with Johnson his reliable self, the band didn’t miss a beat (see what I did there?).
The set opened, as Samantha Fish sets have for as long as I have been seeing her perform live, with Bulletproof (Tangle Eye Mix), from 2019’s Kill Or Be Kind album. Bulletproof is an exceptional choice for an opener, with Sam displaying her slide-playing skills on her signature cigar box guitar.
The next seven songs were a mixture of live show standards and tracks that might not get played that often. The standards included Better Be Lonely, Chills & Fever and Faster. Relative newcomers included Wild Heart, Love Letters, Somebody’s Always Trying, and an absolutely stunning version of Poor Black Mattie, with Sam completely killing it on an extended slide guitar jam.
As is customary in a Samantha Fish show, the band then exited the stage, leaving Fish alone for a two-song acoustic interlude. The Charley Patton cover Jim Lee Blues, Pt. 1, which has become such a staple of Fish shows that it has become her own song, was followed by another newcomer, a cover of the Gladys Knight classic If I Were Your Woman.
The band returned to wrap up the regular set with five more numbers, including Need You More, Never Gonna Cry, Don’t Say You Love Me, Dream Girl, and Black Wind Howlin’. Generally, when Sam performs Dream Girl it is done as a slower, melodic bridge before launching into a rocker to close the regular set. On this night, the song started off that way but evolved into a scorching rocker itself. The crowd barely had time to catch its collective breath before the band moved into the extended blues rocker Black Wind Howlin’ to close the show.
After the obligatory backstage exit to build the crowd frenzy to an even higher level, the band returned for a two-song encore of the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins cover I Put A Spell On You, followed by the full-tilt rock and roll of Bitch on the Run. Eric Johanson returned to the stage for that last tune, and he and Fish engaged in a good old-fashioned guitar battle that culminated in a shared jam reminiscent of the closing guitar work in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird.
Earlier in the evening, before either Johanson or Fish had taken the stage, I was chatting with a couple of members of the crowd who had asked me what the best show I had seen so far in 2023 had been. I had a tough time answering, because I had seen a lot of exceptional shows since the beginning of the year. But I will tell you… if they were to have asked me that same question a little after 11:00 that night, after the band had taken their bows and left the stage, I would not hesitate with my response. That’s how good this evening’s show was. WOW, indeed.
Photos and story by Rick Witt www.rickwittphotography.com
