If you were at Empire Live on Tuesday, June 24th and didn’t walk out a believer, check your pulse and your taste in music. Samantha Fish didn’t play Albany. She scorched it.
Armed with a rotating arsenal of guitars and absolutely zero intention of sparing them, Fish ripped into her set like each song was a personal exorcism. 
At this point, someone should probably file a wellness check on her gear. Her fretwork flirts with felony damage and her solos land with the intensity of a thrown punch. It’s artful, fierce and unrelenting. Fish is far beyond playing guitar, it’s more akin to weaponizing it.
The show opened with a wallop and never let up. There’s a rare chemistry in Fish’s performances. It’s equal parts danger, precision and emotional exposure. It is this that places her right up there with contemporary titans like Joe Bonamassa and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. 
But what separates her is the raw ache and fire she threads into every note. She’s not playing at you, she’s dragging you into the eye of the storm.
Early in the set, “Paper Doll” hit with eerie elegance. A balancing act of vulnerability and venom in equal measure.
Later, “Dreamgirl” pulled the room into a haunted waltz, before the tension snapped back to full-throttle with the roaring urgency of “Bulletproof.” Each song built on the last like a fuse leading to the next stick of dynamite. 
The setlist was a blueprint in dynamics, bending from swampy grooves to gothic blues spells to razor-edged rock. 
Whether she was snarling through a riff or standing dead still, letting a single note twist the knife, the room was hers. By the time “Black Wind Howlin’” blew the doors off the place, there wasn’t a dry soul, or jaw not left hanging on the floor.
Opening support came from the Texas Headhunters, and they didn’t waste a second proving why their upcoming debut is one to watch. 
This blues-rock supergroup, featuring Texas axe-slingers Ian Moore, Jesse Dayton and Johnny Moeller, delivered a high-voltage set dripping with grime, outlaw swagger and rhythm-section muscle. It was the kind of opening act that doesn’t warm up a crowd, they pull the pin from the grenade and walk away.
But this was Samantha Fish’s night, and she burned her presence into the walls.
Setlist: Kick out the Jams, Paper Doll, Can Ya Handle the Heat, I’m Done Runnin’, I Put a Spell on You, Lose You, Sweet Southern Sounds, Off in the Blue, Bulletproof, Fotune Teller, Don’t Say It, Rusty Razor, Dreamgirl, Black Wind Howlin
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