Seeing a band or performer who you really like play live for the first time is such a delicate situation. Let’s say that you’ve been listening to a certain album non-stop for months, are madly in love with it, and then you go see the songs performed live and they just majorly stink up the place. It’s a sad thing when that happens, but let me just tell you that this did NOT happen when I went to my first ever Jemina Pearl show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Wednesday. Jemina (pronounced Ja-Mee-Na, I came to find, and not Ja-MY-Na like I had been saying it), opened up for a little band that you may have heard of called Sonic Youth. Jemina, formerly the lead singer for Be Your Own Pet, released a solo album called Break It Up on Ecstatic Piece in October which Thurston Moore appeared on, so it was nice to see the two teaming up for a show together. I arrived a bit late that night, so I could hear Jemina playing as I was waiting in line to get in. Once inside, I perched at the upstairs balcony and found myself bopping around and grinning from ear to ear from minute one. Jemina’s voice sounds amazing live, pretty much 100% true to recording, if not a bit better for the added bonus of extra screams and gritty emphasis. I watched a Youtube video of hers once where she talked about how she puts a lot of wear and tear on her body during a show and I can attest to that being true. Jemina bounched, thrashed, rolled around on the stage, and then finally just ended the show by jumping into the audience and joining in on a male-driven mosh pit that had been ebbing and flowing for her whole set. Once in the pit, her microphone went dead and she wasn’t heard from again. After being pinged and ponged around for a few minutes, she got back on stage, gathered up her shoes and jean jacket, and left without saying a word.
If you are looking to find out more about Jemina, in an obsessive sort of way, you can read her blog here. It’s really fun.
