Gig review: SAMANTHA FISH – The Ritz, Manchester, 4 March 2026

March 6th, 2026 by jason

So on the way to Manchester I was listening to Planet Rock radio with Elles Bailey who I saw a couple of weeks ago in Bury, and she was playing a track by When Rivers Meet off the Matt Long tribute album I reviewed here about a month ago, and also on that album is The Zak Shulze Gang, and supporting Samantha Fish is none other than The Zac Shulze Gang, so it just goes to prove all roads lead to the blues.

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Now Zac Shulze is one firecracker bundle of energy, grimacing like Gary Moore, jumping around like Angus Young on speed, and playing notes with the speed of Alvin Lee, I kid you not. This trio from Gillingham played a mixture of covers and original material. The covers included Walking The Dog, delivered in a slow blues kinda way, Dr Feelgoods She Does It Right, and finishing with a raucous rendition of Oh Well. Zac can go from breakneck speed to just stopping dead, catching you off guard every time. Punk blues at it’s best.

A good sized and primed crowd welcomed the lady of the blues Samantha Fish, who unfortunately walked into a technical difficulty with nothing coming though the PA for nearly the whole of the first number, which was Kick Out The Jams, the MC5 number. I’ve just watched this on You Tube, and I wish we had been treated to the full force of this opener as she does it well, with full on attitude. A sign of the true professional in her though she didn’t let this phase her at all.

She was playing songs from her latest album Paper Doll, and whilst she still has the blues at heart, this album has proved she is an artist progressing with her sound and is developing into a more full on rock chick, whilst still remembering her roots with that slide on her pinky.

Every song brought a new guitar change, with a couple of SG’s a 335, and possibly a Danelectro, but I couldn’t be sure, plus her trusty four string cigar box guitar which she delivered Bulletproof, which was, for me, my favourite song, but only because I love the sound of those cigar box’s and with four strings she has an extra string for extra sting.

She had slowed things down before this with Sweet Southern Sounds, a sultry sensuous blues showing a gentler side of her, and it works well After this it was more or less full on punch to the gut rocking blues, including her latest single off the album Rusty Razor.

The set finished with Zac Shulze joining her and the band on stage, for Black Wind Howlin’ and featured some good old fashioned guitar duelling between Samantha and Zac, which went down a storm with the crowd. She even found time to inject a little humour into this one, saying she had been let down and treated bad by a Manc lover, and she couldn’t get over him.

Samantha Fish is on a well deserved upward trajectory and proving she can stand her ground in a still, very male dominated environment, note for note, guitar for guitar, song for song .It was a strong set, played and sung exceptionally well. Man she is one damn fine guitar player.

Review by Andy Sharrocks
Photos by Michael Bond and David Pickles

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DODGY – It’s Not The End (Flip Flop Records)
THE SKBs – Hour Glass (indie)
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