Bodega live review: Algorithms, art rock, and Dostoevsky
On a depressingly rainy, characteristically autumnal Wednesday night in Leeds, there is not much to get excited about. Festival season has long since passed, and T-shirts have been relegated in favour of sweaters and big coats. However, one beam of light within this endlessly grey season is the world of live music. So, donning my most waterproof coat, I headed out into the chasm of rain and fog to the musical Mecca of Brudenell Social Club, where audiences would be treated to a visit from New York’s finest art rockers, Bodega.
Having visited Brudenell Social Club countless times since my teenage years, I always feel a particular sense of excitement when a New York band is in town. Perhaps it is a hangover from the punk rock ground zero of the 1970s: the allure of Patti Smith, CBGB, and Taxi Driver. Simultaneously, though, there is also a distinctly Yorkshire sense of “OK, impress us” from audiences. That attitude quickly fell away, however, when the lights dropped and the music started.
Bodega’s set was preceded by fellow New Yorkers Gift, whose unique blend of NYC indie rock, post-punk, and psychedelia was weirdly reminiscent of old-school Manchester indie. The lead singer’s soft-spoken vocals initially reminded me of The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, although, thankfully, Gift had better hair.
When the main event emerged from the darkness backstage, the atmosphere in the room immediately shifted. It struck me that a Bodega show is more akin to a theatrical performance than a run-of-the-mill gig, perfectly encapsulated by their opening track ‘Network’, which established the band’s anti-consumerist angle while also setting the tone for the evening to come.
For the uninitiated, Bodega are the archetypal New York art-rockers; they even have a dark and mysterious bassist with a Dee Dee Ramone haircut. The message of their music, however, is worlds apart from the complacent self-indulgence of mainstream post-punk music in the city. With songs tackling algorithms, technology, capitalism, and consumerist culture, it is often hard to tell whether Bodega are simply art school students from NYC or messengers from a dystopian future – or, at least, a future more dystopian than the present – sent to warn humanity about the errors of its ways.
“We heard Leeds doesn’t fuck,” the band joked at one point, attempting to energise a distinctly damp Tuesday night crowd. Eventually, people did start to loosen up, thanks to the performance of fan-favourite tracks like ‘Statuette On the Console’, ‘Truth Is Not Punishment’, and ‘Jack in Titanic’.
Bodega manage to cram a lot into one live performance. Not only did the band run through some indisputable highlights from across their discography, they also took audience requests and performed a section of hardcore punk in the middle of the show. This section, referred to by the band as ‘Nodega’, featured the live debut of a track ‘Gestation Crate,’ tackling the perils of the meat industry. Its Regan Youth-esque delivery might grant a peek into the sonic direction in which the band is headed.
There was an incredible level of crowd interaction in between tracks, as frontman Ben Hozie asked for clarification on British slang, and Nikki Belfiglio looked befuddled when overhearing an audience member mention Everton’s back four. It was a strange evening in many ways, but it is always entertaining to see an American band looking confused at the tribalistic chanting of “Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire!”
Elsewhere in the show, after a heartfelt performance of ‘After Jane’, a song about the death of Hozie’s mother, Nikki Belfiglio stopped to read a passage from Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky – no, really. The band then dissected the passage, pondering what it might represent in the age of algorithms, AI, and Elon Musk.
Although, admittedly, a pretty bizarre experience, that section of the gig was an excellent encapsulation of Bodega’s live performances. Some gigs you go to, you leave thinking, ‘That was a nice night out,’ and never think about it again. At a Bodega show, on the other hand, you leave with a wide variety of questions, concerns, and critical thoughts about the state of modern society and where we, as a species, are headed. Okay, it was a little heavy-going for a Wednesday night, but it does encourage audiences to be more engaged with the music they are listening to.
So, as I emerged from the gig room at Brudenell and made the long walk back to my house, with gig-sweat quickly washed away by cold rain, my head was filled with thoughts and ideas about the dangers of consumerism and the importance of individuality, but my body was filled with aches and bruises from dancing around to some infectious New York art rock – it truly was the best of both worlds.
