Samantha Fish & Jesse Dayton, Ella & Sienna @ The Gov, Adelaide 24/5/2024

It has been a mere fifteen months, almost to the day, since Samantha Fish graced the stage of The Gov, which had me writing the words, “I awoke the following morning, ears still ringing, despite wearing earplugs the night before, my brain still melting and the body still riding the high of the music played. Rock and roll doesn’t get any better than this.”

This time Samantha brings guitar gunslinger, Jesse Dayton, with her to play some hard rock blues to the people attending The Gov. Samantha and Jesse recorded an E.P of covers, followed by the 2023 album, Death Wish Blues, together, after an innocent co-writing session.

Adelaide’s own Ella & Sienna sister duo opened proceedings with their unique blend of pop, country and folk influences. Armed with only acoustic and bass guitars, the two were certainly the calm before the storm with their lovely harmonies, finely crafted songs and beautiful covers.

Covers such as Taylor Swifts Don’t Blame Me sat alongside original songs like their first single Next to Mine, Fleetwood Macs Landslide, with New Year Kiss. In a brave move, Ella asked the punters on the floor to all move “three steps forward” to fill the hole near the front of the stage. And everyone did.

To everyone around the perimeter who were talking all through the girls set rather than watching and listening, you missed out big time. These girls are going places and the next time you get to see them they may well be headlining The Gov.

Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton did not hold back right from the onset. Kicking off with a commanding version of MC5’s Kick Out the Jams, there was no break leading into an equally powerful song two, Deathwish. The two-guitar onslaught was almost overwhelming, but the pair were not competing, they were complementing each other. Jesse took lead on Feelin’ Good, his voice the perfect foil to Samantha’s sweeter and higher tones. He certainly added an extra layer of sound to the songs all evening.

Three songs in and we get a “How Ya all doin’ out there, ya all?” from Samantha before launching into Hello Stranger. The cover of Brand-New Cadillac rocked loud, fast and hard, the pair dueting impressively on the song.

The fuzz tone was turned up on Samantha’s small cigar box guitar for Trauma and Jesse on Down in the Mud was, well down right dirty, both in vocal and guitar delivery.

A two-song acoustic set, with just Samantha and Jesse on stage under stark white light, saw a cover of Townes van Zandt’s I’ll Be There in the Morning, the couple interchanging vocals on verses. Baby’s Long Gone was the second acoustic song before the band returned for Rippin’ and Runnin’. And let’s not forget the three guys backing this duo. They were on fire, the drummer reminding me of film I had seen with The Who’s Keith Moon, arms flailing everywhere, hair flying. And speaking of the drummer, his continuing, rolling drums beats, added magnificently to the guitar licks on Supadupabad.

A cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins I Put a Spell on You let Samantha loose vocally. A quiet reserved start to the song led to a final frenzy, leaving us with no doubt as to how good Samantha is vocally. This song was worth the price of entry on its own. Stunning!

Just a point about all the covers Samantha and Jesse played. Watching bands play live, you usually want to see just “their” songs played, but watching these two take classic blue’s songs, ripping them apart to make them their own, was a thing of beauty.

Rider from the Death Wish Blues album was a great closer, giving us one last time to just see how these two perfectly interacted with their guitars and vocals. With two lead guitars, one would have expected an onslaught of guitar solos at some time during the set, but no, it was all about the song. While there was a lot of guitar sound to be heard, not an extended solo played all evening.

But there was one more chance to watch them. The encore was a version of R. L. Burnside’s Goin’ Down South, played faster and heavier than Mr Burnside would have ever played it. A wonderful conclusion to a wonderful show.

As Samantha said at the end of the show, “See you in fifteen months”. Let’s hope so and let’s hope Jesse Dayton is still playing guitar with her.

Live Review Geoff Jenke