Samantha Fish // The Zac Schulze Gang // Live Review // Cheese and Grain // Frome

The Cheese and Grain is situated in Frome, Somerset. It has been in existence for a very long time. It has been through a major internal re-vamp and it now has a better stage, lights and heat/air con. It holds around 835 people standing or 500 people seated. Over the years, it has been host to many famous bands, including Robert Plant and, more recently, The Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Paul McCartney, who did surprise warm-up gigs there before their appearances at Glastonbury, which is just a few miles away.

Playing to a full house, the opening support act was The Zac Schulze Gang, who came on stage ten minutes early, and unfortunately, there were still quite a few people who were queuing to get in. They opened with their latest single ‘Woman’, and immediately the audience warmed to them. The sound was very good; loud but not ear-splitting, and the vocals and instruments were perfect in the sound mix. Zac Schulz’s guitar work is very reminiscent of the late Gary Moore. Although he plays a Stratocaster, he somehow still manages to get it to sound like a Les Paul. The band played a mixture of their songs and a number of covers. Although all the covers were very good, the outstanding numbers were ‘She Does It Right’ by Dr Feelgood, ‘Messing With The Kid’ by Rory Gallagher and ‘Oh Well’ by Fleetwood Mac. The band played for around forty-five minutes, and the three-piece announced that they would be back in September to play The Tree House in Frome, which is a smaller venue that is affiliated with The Cheese and Grain.  A great start to the evening.

The Zac Schulze Gang – Set List

Woman (new single from forthcoming ZSG debut album)

High Roller (new song from forthcoming ZSG debut album)

Walking The Dog (Rufus Thomas)

She Does It Right (Dr Feelgood)

Hole In My Pocket (taken from the ZSG’s “Made of Three” EP)

Take What I Want (Rory Gallagher)

Hellhounds on My Trail (Jerry Reed and Tony Dowler)

Messin with the Kid (Rory Gallagher)

Oh Well (Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac)

Review:Paul Gregory

Photography: Emma Painter

Pacific Curd Photography

At 21.00, Samantha Fish and her band arrived on stage and launched into the first number, ‘Kick Out The Jams’ by The MC5. The sound started quite woolly, but got better towards the middle of the song. She then played the title track from her latest album ‘Paper Doll’.  Throughout the evening, she played a lot more tracks from this album, and all were done very well. Highlights for me of the new songs were; ‘I’m Done Running’, which has recently been released as a single, ‘Lose You’ which got the audience clapping along for the first time in the evening, ‘Fortune Teller’, with it’s slowish start but then ends up almost being a rock-a-billy style song, and ‘Don’t Say It’  which had a superb guitar solo, and superb vocals. The rest of the set was a mixture of tracks from her last few albums and a couple of covers. The best of these covers was ‘I Put A Spell On You’, which showcased her fantastic vocal range and incredible slide guitar work. In between each song, there was a change of guitars, cycling through about five, I think, and of course she played her cigar box guitar on ‘Bulletproof’, being one of her most popular tracks, which received a huge round of applause from the crowd. After ninety minutes, she finished the set with a long version of  ‘Black Wind Howling’, terminating in a crescendo of sound. She then came back for an encore, which was R.L. Burnside’s Going Down South’, after having introduced her usual band consisting of   Mickey Finn on keyboards, Ron Johnson on bass, and Jamie Douglass on drums.

A truly excellent evening of entertainment from both bands, who performed at a very good venue, with a free car park. Fish and her band were exemplary, and the crowd reacted accordingly. Afterwards, there was a long queue at the Merch Stand and from what I could see, the new album was selling very well.. Go see them live on this short UK tour when you can!!!

Samantha Fish Setlist: 

KICK OUT THE JAMS

PAPER DOLL

CAN YOU HANDLE THE HEAT

I’M DONE RUNNIN’

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU

LOSE YOU

SWEET SOUTHERN SOUNDS

BULLETPROOF

FORTUNE TELLER

POOR MATTIE

RUSTY RAZOR

DON’T SAY IT

BITCH ON THE RUN

DREAMGIRL

BLACK WIND HOWLIN’

GOIN’ DOWN SOUTH

Review:Paul Gregory

Photography: Emma Painter

Pacific Curd Photography

SAMANTHA FISH
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