New York’s five-piece post-punk Bodega returned to London six months after their debut at the Moth Club, this time playing the more substantial Islington Assembly Hall. Championed by BBC 6Music’s Marc Riley, amongst others, ticket sales were good, with the venue pretty packed, even if upstairs was closed.
Directing affairs from centre stage, Nikki Belfiglio cranked up the crowd, throwing shapes, pounding out a mini-drum kit and yelping with some obvious enjoyment at the band’s current wave of popularity.
Bodega raced through a one and a quarter hour set of mostly high tempo tunes that had the middle-aged crowd mostly nodding vigorously along, and at some more energetic points, reliving some of their pogo moves of earlier years. There was even a small mosh pit at one point.
While the band is one of Mr Riley’s flavours of the month, they will continue to draw reasonable crowds but the strength of their song-writing and performances may even give them a much longer shelf life.
Bodega continue their UK Tour tonight at Mutations Festival in Brighton before heading to play The Loft in Southampton and Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. Remaining tickets can be found here.
Words and photos by Richard Gray
