Shemekia Copeland Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club, Portsmouth, NH 4/19/2026
When we saw Shemekia Copeland last November at the Bull Run, we were seated at a table with a friendly superfan named Mark. We became friends with him and his wife Jackie, and went out to dinner with them. We made plans with Mark to attend Shemekia's concert at Jimmy's Jazz & Blues in Portsmouth, NH, a venue which was new to us. While we were in Egypt in January, they announced a second show the same night. Mark informed us and kindly purchased tickets for us while we were away.
We met up with Mark at the Thirsty Moose, a couple of blocks down from Jimmy's. We enjoyed dinner there and then headed over to the venue. For the first show, we were seated at separate tables, but we were all right up front. Craig and I were seated with a lovely couple named Wendy and Michael. Shemekia has such wonderful fans! We had a nice chat with them before the show.
The first show's set was similar to the one we saw in November at the Bull Run. I had bought one of her T-shirts at that show, and it had an American flag pattern with the song title "Ain’t Got Time for Hate". As Shemekia introduced the song tonight, she pointed out my T-shirt from the stage. We love the song, and it is such an important message for today's times!
When she sang "Ghetto Child", she came offstage and roamed through the audience singing off-microphone. Her voice is so powerful that she can command the room even unamplified. She walked right by our table and put her hands on Craig's shoulders, singing. She then planted a kiss right on the top of Craig's bald head, and then joked that she'd have to reapply her lipstick. Sure enough, there were lipstick prints on his head which he wore with pride the rest of the night!
During the song, she also walked by Mark, and she stopped to admire the custom T-shirt he had made for the event. It was his 20th time seeing Shemekia in concert, and he has become good friends with her. She said that there was "a whole lot of Shemekia" on his shirt, which contained photos of his previous times seeing her in concert.
She and the band were on fire tonight, and we thoroughly enjoyed the show. The venue is on the third floor of the building, and after the early show, we went down to the second floor where the merch table was set up. We got a photo with Shemekia and got her to autograph our "Blame It on Eve" CD. As always, she was quite gracious. Craig pointed out his lipstick print on his head, saying it was a good thing his wife was here to see how it all went down, and she laughed.
Set List I:
Broken High Heels
Tough Mother
Ain't Got Time for Hate
Salt in My Wounds
Blame It On Eve
Nobody But You
Walk Until I Ride
Wine O'Clock
Tell the Devil
Great Rain
Ghetto Child
It's 2 A.M.
She promised different songs in the late show, and, boy, did she deliver. There were no overlaps at all, and she threw in some older songs and deep cuts. The band also had time for some solos. She kept saying that "anything goes" in the second show. She took us to church with "Stand Up and Testify" and followed it up with Solomon Burke's "I Feel A Sin Coming On".
Afterwards, we went back downstairs to the merch table. She asked our names and signed our "Uncivil War" CD. We got another photo with her and she joked that she had changed into some comfy clothes because she had been so cold in her dress up onstage (it was quite chilly in the venue).
It was great spending time with Mark for his 20th and 21st times seeing Shemekia perform (and our 7th and 8th)! It was our first time seeing a show at Jimmy's and it won’t be the last! What a great venue!
