CONCERT REVIEW: BONAVEGA @ THE BOOTLEG THEATER, LOS ANGELES, CA 7/25

Written by James Sebastian

Dear Reader,

I know what the title says. I wrote it. But I’m going to ask you to treat these words not as a review, but as a prescription for medicine you didn’t know you needed.

You see, my dear Reader, you are sick! Your soul is dying, my friend—and yet...

…Fear not! A cure does exist!

The cure is…BONAVEGA.

WARNING: BONAVEGA may cause symptoms related to overwhelming feelings of joy, such as: an elevated heart rate, fever, sweating, increased libido, spontaneous stripping, an erection that lasts for more than four hours, feeling like you’re in the barn scene from Footloose, feeling like you’re watching a vintage porno on Broadway while high on LSD, and fainting. Do not go see BONAVEGA live if you have any life-threatening allergies to the following: having a good time, letting loose and enjoying yourself, dancing like nobody’s watching, or an inability to remove that prude-shaped stick out of your ass.

I almost don’t want to say anything else. Could you imagine? Just mic-drop a fake prescription and fuck off while you stare at your screen wondering how high I was when I wrote this. Don’t worry, there’s still a legitimate review somewhere around here. Now, if I could just remember where I put—Oh, down here.

BONAVEGA is a true resurrection of performance art. Skillfully blended musicality and theatrics come together in a lecherous on-stage soiree that reimagines and revitalizes 80s-style pop-rock through the eyes of everyone’s favorite sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania, Dr. Frank N. Furter. I don’t want to ruin the fun by spilling all the surprises, however let me just say this: if you plan on attending (as I high-ly recommended earlier), do NOT come late! I don’t know if I could pick a favorite part of the show, but how the faithful “Father” Tom Lipka begins the show is definitely in the running.

Once the show begins, you’ll bear witness to depraved antics (all in good fun!) and wildly talented guitar playing and drumming. Drummer Joao Sousa, donned in a prison jumpsuit, slams down his sticks like Thor when he wields a hammer in each hand. Meanwhile, BONAVEGA calls upon the spirits of glam rock legends and pays a worthy tribute with his axe. Yet another reason to follow my opening advice would be in order to not miss the amazing live guitar and drum solos that you won’t find on your preferred streaming service.

You might doubt that the ending of the show could be as entertaining as I’ve implied the opening is. I would absolutely understand it if you did.

You’d be wrong, but I’d understand.

There is a funeral, flowers for the grieving, a revival, a striptease featuring a leather-clad Frankenstein…actually, perhaps I’ve said too much. Not that it matters, because if you make it to this show, I can guarantee you will stay through to the end. As this is the case, I will let you just go see the ending for yourself.

Allow me to leave you with a brief description of an experience that happened several times during the performance. In an already packed room, several audience members saw me enjoying myself and came up to talk to me. Wearing bright smiles and rocking silly dance moves, they asked me who in the hell was the guy on stage. I leaned in near their ears and screamed over the opera of immorality happening just a few feet away, “they call him BONAVEGA!”

The following is a list of opportunities to fill your prescription for BONAVEGA: