Samantha Fish Bristol Academy 01-03-26

 

First up in front of a very good audience for a very wet Sunday night was The Zac Schulze Gang who hit 100 mph from the first note and don't let up .

Rock N'Roll blues played with ferocity, speed and passion led from the front by Zac Schulze on vocals and guitar. He is a whirlwind of riffs and solos that never eases for a second with the crowd on board from the word go.

A classic 3 piece with Zac's brother Ben on drums and Ant Greenwell on bass who both more than play their part and the countless hours on the road show their tightness and ability to lay down the rock for Zac to do his bit all over the top.

High Roller shows incredible pace and the band interplay is stunning with Zac's soloing impeccable.

Ant sings Hole In My Pocket about the joys of cannabis smoking and he does a great job vocally.

Walking The Dog showed the band can take it down a notch or five with some slow blues with Zac showing great melody and technique and vocally superb and would like to see more of this personally to show the other side of the band.

The 35 minute set went past in a flash and watch The Zac Schulze Band rise through the ranks at the same pace too.

Samantha Fish is a regular to these shores and so good to see the venues getting bigger and the crowds too as her star ascends.

Starting the show with a romp through MC5's Kick Out The Jams showed off Sam's vocal prowess and the band are superb all more than playing their part. Ron Johnson on bass, Mickey Finn on keys and Jamie Douglass on drums all show their class time and again and all get their moment in the spotlight as good blues bands do showing the world class playing all across the stage.

In support of Samantha's latest album Paper Doll with 7 songs played in total and it's title track is up next with the sound man doing his thing with everyone perfectly audible. Sam's vocal melody shows she has more than one world class instrument and I love the light and shade after the guitar solo. The band know when to drop it all off and then hit hard as they all come back in and Sam's vocal raises in line with it all and its superb.

I'm Done Runnin' starts on a rotating guitar riff from Sam and the band kick in for the chorus with the rhythm team a joy to watch letting Sam solo over the top of them.

My album favourite Sweet Southern Sounds was fantastic. An ease in the pace with Mickey's Hammond organ underpinning the verse and Sam shows great technique with held notes vocally. The extended guitar solo in the second part of the song shows Sam is one of the world's best guitarist's with her dexterity in fast paced soloing and held notes is stunning.

Wow.

Lose You gave Sam the chance to show off her slide guitar prowess in the verse and in the solo too and she really can do it all.

Don't Say It starts on a picked Sam guitar riff and with the pace easing Sam's vocal line showed true melodic phrasing and held notes impeccably delivered again with Mickey's Hammond filing in any gaps with the sound just so good.

Sam's cigar box guitar was brought out and it had to be Bulletproof with it's fuzzed out guitar riff and vocal all underpinned by the band interplay and the crowd responded accordingly.

Fortune Teller shows the light and shade theory of when to reign it in and when to go. Sam's early vocal line is insistent and her dictation superb. It all builds to the chorus and the guitar riff insistent and the band take it down to a whisper after the second chorus before it explodes and Sam solos with speed and no little dexterity and technique jaw dropping.

Rusty Razor's huge guitar riff broke the silence and didn't let go with it's big chorus having  great back up vocals from Ron and got the crowd moving and ending with a crash.

Black Wind Howlin' was a great set closer with it's an extended band workout and Sam soloing across the stage letting us all see her amazing technique at length. Thank you.

One encore with a cover of Goin' Down South saw the band joined by Zac Schule and the 2 guitarist's shone with each getting time in the spotlight .Great to see Zac reigning it back a bit as I would like to see more of this side of him and of course the band held it all together superbly.

A great night in Bristol with 2 of the very best there is in the blues or any genre showing live music at it's very finest and purest source.