A Thursday night in Harrisburg in mid-December. Cold air, early darkness, the kind of night where you’re either home already or very intentionally not. The crowd filing into XL Live had made a choice. You could see it in the mix of denim, leather, and well-worn band tees; this wasn’t a casual stop on a tour calendar. It felt personal before a note was played and Samantha Fish crowds tend to show up ready.
And the lineup mattered. Jon Spencer. Cedric Burnside. Samantha Fish. That order alone promised friction, sweat, and very little polish.
Jon Spencer Sets the Tone (and Kicks the Door In)
Jon Spencer doesn’t ease into a room. He sort of barges in sideways, dragging electricity behind him. At Club XL on Dec. 18, his set hit like a garage door slamming shut and reopening repeatedly. Raw riffs, sharp rhythms, vocals half-spoken and half-barked, with no wasted motion. Spencer prowled the stage like he was testing the room’s load-bearing walls, daring them to crack. What worked was how unfiltered it felt. No nostalgia act energy here. This was confrontational rock and roll, the kind that reminds you how much danger used to live inside a three-minute song.
By the time Spencer wrapped up, the room felt scrubbed clean. Whatever expectations people brought in with them had been knocked loose.
Cedric Burnside Brings the Deep Roots
Cedric Burnside followed, and the shift was immediate but seamless. Where Spencer punched, Burnside rolled. The grandson of RL Burnside carries the hill country blues in his hands, but he doesn’t treat it like a museum piece. His guitar work was hypnotic, heavy without being busy, locking into grooves that felt ancient and present at the same time.
There’s a patience to Burnside’s set that rewarded attention. The songs breathed and the band stretched out just enough to let the room settle into the rhythm. It was the kind of blues that doesn’t beg for applause. It waits and eventually, it gets it.
Watching the crowd during Burnside’s set was half the fun. People who’d been chatting earlier went quiet. Drinks were forgotten. A few folks closed their eyes. This was grounding music, the kind that reminds you where rock and roll came from before it got loud and shiny. By the end of his set, the room felt centered. Calm, but charged. Which made Samantha Fish’s entrance hit even harder.
Samantha Fish Wastes No Time
No long intro. No dramatic pause. Samantha Fish and her band walked out and went straight into “Kick Out the Jams” by The MC5. The sound jumped, the crowd surged forward, and suddenly the night snapped into focus. Fish’s guitar tone cut clean and sharp, with just enough grit to keep it dangerous. She attacked the opening song with intent, like she was claiming the room rather than greeting it.
“Paper Doll,” the title track to her latest album, followed, and the mood shifted without losing momentum. The groove tightened, darker and more deliberate. Fish’s voice slid in low and confident, carrying that familiar mix of defiance and wear. She doesn’t overplay emotion; she lets it simmer. Live, that restraint makes everything hit harder.
“I’m Done Runnin’,” has always felt like a line drawn in the sand, and Fish delivered it with conviction. Her phrasing stretched just enough to add tension, then snapped back into the groove. The band stayed tight, giving her space to lean into the edges.
Watch Samantha Fish perform “I’m Done Runnin'” live from Esplanade Studios on YouTube:
“Sweet Southern Sounds” lightened the room a bit. Smiles showed up. A few people near the bar started swaying, shoulders loosening. Fish cracked a quick grin, then turned back to the mic. No lingering and the night kept moving.
“Lose You” and “Don’t Say You Love Me” formed a strong middle punch. One carried a quiet ache, the other a sharper bite. Together, they showed the breadth of Fish’s songwriting. She can pivot between vulnerability and confrontation without losing her footing, and live, that contrast feels especially honest.
Crowd favorite, “Bulletproof” rolled in with a thick groove and a sense of resolve. Fish stalked the stage, bending notes until they felt like they might break. The solo stretched, not flashy, just deeply felt. You could feel people holding their breath without realizing it.
“Fortune Teller” followed, swaggering and playful on the surface, ominous underneath. Fish and her band communicated in quick glances and subtle cues, shifting dynamics without telegraphing them, like a band that trusts each other enough to take small risks on a Thursday night in December.
“Rusty Razor” lived up to its name. Sharp, aggressive with Punk energy bleeding straight through the blues framework of the song. The crowd responded immediately and XL Live suddenly felt smaller, louder, hotter.
“Don’t Say It” pulled things back just a notch, letting tension do the work. Fish let the spaces between lines linger, because even the silence mattered.
Then came “Black Wind Howlin’,” and the reaction was instant. This song has become a cornerstone of her live set for a reason. It stretches, snarls, and refuses to sit still. Fish tore into the solo with ferocity, notes bending and twisting and the band locked in behind her, pushing and pulling the tempo, letting the song swell and collapse in waves.
Watch Samantha Fish perform “Black Wind Howlin'” live at Telluride Blues & Brews Festival on YouTube:
By the final moments, the room felt wrung out in the best way. Not exhausted. Satisfied. The kind of satisfied that comes from watching a lineup make sense from start to finish.
At the end of the set, Cedric Burnside and Jon Spencer, along with their band mates, came back onstage wearing “Team Naughty” Christmas shirts, which cracked Samantha up.
The set list told the story, but the spaces between songs told the rest. A night that started cold and ended buzzing, stitched together by guitar strings, sweat and a crowd that showed up ready to feel something.
Setlist:
Kick Out the Jams (MC5 cover)
Paper Doll
I’m Done Runnin’
Sweet Southern Sounds
Lose You
Don’t Say You Love Me
Bulletproof
Fortune Teller
Rusty Razor
Don’t Say It
Black Wind Howlin’
Samantha Fish- lead vocals/ guitar
Ron Johnson – bass
Mickey Finn – keyboards
Jamie Douglass – drums
Here are some photos of Samantha Fish performing live at Club XL on Dec. 18, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
Here are some photos of Jon Spencer opening Samantha Fish on Dec. 18, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
Here are some photos of Cedric Burnside opening Samantha Fish on Dec. 18, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
