'I will remember this show forever!' - Bully Live At Lagunitas show review
I have two other deadlines I need to be working on, but sometimes you head out to a Tuesday night show at a brewery and come home and think to yourself: “I have to write about this.”
Earlier this evening my life-partner, Claire and I took the 22 minute drive from the West End of Santa Rosa to Lagunitas Brewing Company to see Bully, a ‘90s style indie/grunge band based in Nashville.
The band were performing as part of the Live at Lagunitas Summer Concert Series presented by the music blog/magazine Consequence (of Sound). Last year we got to see an amazing concert from Japanese Breakfast at the intimate outdoor amphitheater and I was super excited to see Bully. They popped up out of nowhere years ago on my Spotify feeds and instantly wormed themselves into the clogged artery machine I call a heart.
Heading out into the early evening, we assumed it was going to be another great free concert, but the night turned out to be something even more special.
Bully is Alicia Bognanno and I fucking love their band. They play this throwback ‘90s alternative grunge rock that reminds me of Veruca Salt, L7, Liz Phair, and the almighty Breeders.
Bognanno has a unique voice that feels like bubblegum cut with razorblades. Imagine The Powerpuff Girls (or maybe it’s Patty Mayonnaise from the cartoon Doug) singing in a huge sounding, fuzzy Dinosaur Jr or Nirvana style band.
I caught Bully in 2025 at the BottleRock music festival and their tunes have been on heavy rotation in my life sense. I’ve also been a huge fan of the band’s live video performances on YouTube, such as this video of the band playing live on radio station KEXP.
Sadly, we missed the opening act, Misfire SD while standing in line to get hot dogs from the Lagunitas Food pop-up, but they sounded great from the line. Claire commented that they reminded her of Beach Bunny and I would add that they have a lot of fuzzy shoegaze-y goodness in there as well.
Wilt from Los Angeles, not to be confused with the 90s rock band from Ireland of the same name, were in the support slot. They play solid radio friendly alternative mall-punk pop-rock that reminded me of what I think Paramore sounds like. They did a fun cover of t.A.T.u. - “All The Things She Said.” Lots of folks seemed into them, but they were just a little too middle of the road for me.
It was a hot, hot day in Sonoma county, but as the sun set the cool night’s air flowed across the outdoor amphitheater, I looked around and observed the crowd.
It was the perfect sized crowd for this kind of event. It wasn’t sold out, but there was a large audience in attendance and you could still move around the crowd.
The audience was a great and eclectic mix of humans. Most rock concerts I go to are mostly white men, so I was happy to see there was a really great mix of folks from every walk of life in the crowd. There were tons of queer folks in attendance and I couldn’t help but notice the large amount of women in the crowds.
Once Wilt finished their performance, the stage was a hustle and bustle of activity and I watched as Bognanno set up for the Bully set. I thought to myself, “She looks tired,” and then quickly yelled at myself that it is rude to say those things about women’s appearances.
Before long the MC for the evening came on stage to drop some cryptic hints about their next un-announced concert event and introduce Bully. With a roar of the crowd Bognanno came out onto the stage alone and started the set with “All I Do,” from her 2023 record Lucky for You.
I kept waiting for the rest of the band to join her on stage and finish out the song, but they never did.
After the raw raucousness of “All I Do” was finished, Bognanno addressed the crowd about the empty stage behind her. It turns out there had been a health emergency in the band, and it was decided in grand fashion that the show must go on! She would be playing solo for the night. This was to be her first solo show in about 6 years, and her first time ever playing a sixty minute show ever.
Suddenly it dawned on me. No, Bognanno didn’t look tired when I saw her earlier. It was a mask of stress and terror she wore on her face.
"Thank you for being accommodating. If you've ever been to a Bully show, you'll know I don't speak at all,” she addressed the audience with a laugh. “I’ve spoken more tonight than I ever have at another Bully show.”
She ripped into the next song, and I heard the smart ass mumbles of a woman behind me, “If it was my band, I would have just canceled. But good for her, I guess.”
I was bummed, too. Bully as a full band absolutely rips. I was eagerly awaiting this up close and personal full band set. But you know what? This was a damned cool night. Claire and I had a ton of fun. When the hell else am I ever going to get a chance to see this unique of a set from Bully?
I eagerly await the day I get to see this band in the dank, dark dirty club that the music so deserves, but in the meantime we locked in and enjoyed the hell out of her set.
Already a short woman, Bognanno looks downright tiny on the stage alone. Despite her small size, the voice that comes out of her mouth is a huge, powerful wail of fury and emotion.
I noticed on her shirt was an elephant print. This tiny woman had this gigantic, powerful animal on her shirt and I wondered if it was some kind of spirit animal for the day?
In between songs, she tells us stories of her first solo performance:
“The first time I played solo was in 2023. It was overseas and I started and then I just stopped because I forgot what I was doing! I looked to my stage right and I was like, ‘I should just run off the stage!’ Then I remembered I was in Europe with nowhere to go. So I looked back and acted like I'm just gonna fix something on my pedal board. I bent over and my head hit the microphone and it amplified over the whole theater. When I came back up and I said, ‘This will be the show that ruined my career!’ and nobody laughed.”
It was endearing. I was already a fan, but this completely won me over to the artist. I loved her awkward story telling. I loved how she came alive when she would rip into one of her songs. I loved watching as she slowly built up that confidence in herself. The set got better and better as she moved it along.
Before you know it, she doesn’t look tired or stressed any longer. She has a huge smile on her face as she plays. She looks alive up there, with a mix of awe and bewilderment that this show has been going oh so well for her.
There’s something about Bognanno’s voice and presence that just radiates this star quality. I can’t put my finger on it. Even in this intimate show and environment, there’s something about her voice that scratches an unseen itch inside my head. It makes me want to throw my fist in the air and yell, "fuck yeah!"
She began to wrap up the show with a rousing version of “Milkman” from her debut album, Feels Like and the audience went wild. Finally she ended the night with a damned great cover of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You.”
She thanks the crowd and lets us know, “I will remember this show forever! Thank you!”
I can’t speak for the rest of the audience, but I know for damned sure that I’m going to treasure my memories of this show forever.
For more information on Bully please visit: https://www.bullythemusic.com/
