Zola Jesus + EMA @ Heaven, London

November 23rd, 2011

Last autumn my musical crush was Zola Jesus. After the Nevermind exhibition, I went inside a record store, and they had her new album playing. That's when it really hit me. I guess it was because of the good speakers, which were able to showcase the bass, which I think is important for her songs. There wasn't any other choice, but to get myself a ticket for her London gig, which was set two months after. Super stoked I was.

Just some hours before the gig, I checked who was the support. It was some teenager from Austria, then the excitement was gone. Apparently, EMA is quite a popular artist name, so the support act was actually a bit older and American.

In fact she was this extremely tall indie amazon princess- liked rocker, who could have starred in Xena. She had this captivating stage presence with music, which made you really concentrate on and a few dedicated fans, who seemed to drive the front audience mad.

Then something happened that I had never believed an indie act would do. Let along an indie support act.

I remember hoping that the guitar pieces she threw into the crowd wouldn't hit the camera. I managed to talk about it with her after the gig, and apparently it was her first time to wreck a guitar, which was a cheap one. She felt ashamed about it, as she realized how dangerous it was. I'm pretty sure though that people were rather excited of heavy pieces flying above their heads.

What could I say now about Zola Jesus' performance, except for that I didn't want it to stop? Well, she was tiny, and whenever she jumped into the crowd, it was hard to see where she was. Maybe now and then you could have spotted a glimpse of her hair.

It was cool to watch how concentrated she was in singing, and then all of the sudden she could turn into this Tazmanian devil with her crazy moves.




It was a great evening of music, but what made it perfect was to literally look back and see a familiar face; there was this guy standing behind me, who during Austra's gig was in front of me. That was the moment, when London became small. Me and my friend got to know him and his sister, who both of them moved from South Africa to London to work. They taught us this little trick what to do during gigs; when everyone else is standing, go down and it will feel like you've dived into another world. X