Samantha Fish, The Zac Schulze Gang – The O2 Ritz, Manchester – 4th March 2026

SAMANTHA FISH

The Paper Doll tour sees Kansas City comes to Manchester Music City. With the Paper Doll album all primed and ready to roll, the almost obligatory MC5 classic Kick Out The Jams sets the scene for a healthy dose of the new album. A song with a rabid tempo and a chance to warm up the hands with some solo splashes. With maybe a hint of some tweaking of sound issues up on stage, a triple hit of the twisting and turning title track with its stomping tempo and hooky riffs comes paired with the lively Blues Rock of I’m Done Runnin’ and Can You Handle The Heat?

Samantha – naturally – is right up front and creasing into solo passages – the band in the haze of the rear guard as the guitar changes come thick and fast. It’s hard to keep track of what to focus on as guitar admiration/envy (‘guitar porn’) threatens to kick in. Silver bodied for Sweet Southern Sounds while Lose You sees a nice smaller bodied red special model and slide. It also marks the point at which you can start to equally admire the range of her work.

BLUES AND BEYOND

Yes, as with Zac, the Blues is at the core, but she’s ready and willing to not quite subvert the genre, but take gentle tuns off the main highway into blending in elements of Rock, Country, Funk, Soul and ballad. Indeed, for Fish watchers, the tour has become an interesting game of setlist bingo as the variations and sequences been constantly tweaked throughout the UK dates.

Manchester too finds her refusing to sit still to a confirmed and conformed rigidity of what to play. Bulletproof sees the vibe turn all rusty and (in a nice way) nasty with the dirty fuzz of the cigar box guitar embellished by a switch of mics for that compressed vocal sound. You get the feeling that the band could simply groove on this riff all night. The rustic and organic element gets reinforced with Poor Black Mattie. Proper rootsy stuff making a mark.

By contrast there’s a moody polish to Fortune Teller from the new album. Ominous with a low key and tense vocal and the band creating a sinister ambience. Rusty Razor is a chunk of swaggering Hard Rock with a promise from Samantha to be on her best behaviour – great rhyming work! Ringing the changes, Don’t Say It is a relaxing shaft of soulful balladeering before a Black Wind Howlin’ packed with a bagful of emotive solos eeks out the grand finale,

It’s hard to keep a good man down so a re-appearance for Zac Schulze for the encore feels inevitable, but he’s duly courteous to the headliner with the chance to trade solos bringing things neatly full circle. Also begs the question of a collaboration between the two – harnessing their powers? Might take a strong man…anyone got Joe Bonamassa’s number?

THE ZAC SCHULZE GANG

Having had ‘the pleasure’ at Cropredy in 2024, we know pretty much what to expect from The Zac Schulze Gang. Exactly that as he gurned his way through a whirlwind 45 minute set that made calls at several stops along the Blues trail. Not just grimacing and gurning while firing off volleys of Bluesy riffs and solos, like a top class midfielder, the main man covered every inch of the stage. An exercise making the award for ‘hardest working band member’ a difficult choice – his rhythm section, slightly less frantic, matched him pound for pound in setting up a solid base for his guitar decoration.

Taking in trips to the roadhouse and pub rocking London (channeling a little bit of Wilko on She Does It Right, , the trio were as dynamite as we remembered and knew they would be. A finale of Hellhound On My Trail saw the solo heading all manner of demented direction and with a shout of “One more?” the gang dusted off a fearsome Oh Well, with the guitar literally taking a kicking.

And what of the the threat to see how many Stone Roses and Oasis references they could throw into the set as they contemplated a trip to Manchester music city from the Black Sabbath bench…there may have been some subtle ones we didn’t catch, but who needs the Madchester crew when you have a whole history of the blues at your disposal?

Samantha Fish: Website

The Zac Schulze Gang: Website