Samantha Fish – The Palladium Times Square 3/12/22

For the most part, Ive pretty much kept my reviews, articles and “experiences” on the positive side as I dont care to throw anyone or venue under the bus. But it must be said that whomever was the lighting tech for Samantha Fish, did a horrible job! At least from a photographer’s stand point! However, there could be specific reasons why the lighting was the way it was so I cant blame the tech entirely. Firstly, the artist and tech may have had preshow discussions about lighting scenes based on what Ms Fish would be wearing on stage that night. Secondly, a lot of artists, if not all artists know at this point, about the three song rule; photographers are usually only allowed to shoot the first three songs, no flash! Perhaps that was the intent. Thirdly, and I hope Im wrong, the lighting tech has no clue! Many of the lighting schemes, after the first three songs, did not complement each other. Various gels were used which did not enhance Samantha’s outfit nor did the backlight match the downstage lights. Therefore, many of the images that I have edited are in black & white. No matter the reason as to the poor lighting, my opinion only, the audio technician needs a raise!

Ms Fish commanded the stage in bright red latex pants and leather jacket and took the crowd by storm! Starting the night with “Bulletproof” from her Kill or be Kind Album showcasing her famous cigar box guitar, she shot out like a canon! From there it was nothing but in your face, hard rock blues with a bit of country rock thrown in for good measure. She didnt address the crowd very much or tell background stories about how the songs came about and I appreciated that aspect. A few light-hearted comments were expressed to connect with the crowd but Ms Fish got the crowd going when a fight broke out started shouting to the individuals to “get the fuck out”!

The River Kittens, who opened the night, joined Samantha on stage for “Dream Girl” which calmed the crowd down only momentarily until Eric Gales hopped up on stage to close the set with an extended version of “Black Wind Howlin’”. There was no encore in the traditional sense; once Samantha and Eric finished, the set was over.

SETLIST –

BULLETPROOF

TWISTED AMBITION

HELLO STRANGER

HIGHWAY

HYPNOTIC

BITCH ON THE RUN

SO CALLED LOVER

DREAM GIRL w/The River Kittens

BLACK WIND HOWLIN’ w/Eric Gales (see the clever play on words, pun??)