MINKA Masquerade
Brooklyn Bowl
1009 Canal St.
Philadelphia
Jan. 10, 2025
Last Friday, at the tail end of “Philly Loves Bowie Week,” I saw MINKA, a disco-funk jam band local to Philly and one of Bowie’s many cultural descendants, in concert at Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia.
Since 2017, one year after Bowie’s passing, Philly has spent the first week of January celebrating the brief time David Bowie came to Philly in 1974, where he recorded music and performed an entire live album, David Live, at the Tower Theater.
MINKA’s performance encapsulated the 2010 hipster aesthetic while placing an emphasis on the kind of campy theatricality that androgynous superstars like Bowie once embodied. Glitter, decadence, and kink gushed from a stage crowded with the four main band members plus a slew of backup dancers centered around a stripper pole.
The stage setup, though deceptively simple, skewed all over the place with pops of bold colors, disco lights, and constant movement. Everyone on stage wore masks that were fun, playful, and odd enough to resemble animals that had crawled straight out of the uncanny valley.
The audience donned masks too. Upon climbing the stairs to the venue, the merch table offered a vast array of masquerade masks free for the taking. I found one for myself in my favorite color: purple.
The band also generously gave away free CD copies of one of their more recent albums, Oops! All Bangers, which came out in 2021.
As guests slowly filtered in, I was delighted by all the ways in which fans dressed up for the concert, displaying a collective understanding of some clandestine assignment. Groups of friends arrived dressed in semi-formal attire accessorized with various costume pieces and masquerade masks, or if unmasked, decorated their faces with theatrical makeup choices that did not feel overdone.
The concert felt like a best dressed contest... where everyone got to go home with a participation trophy.
Sugar Nova, an electro-pop duo based in Denver, Colorado, opened for MINKA. My favorite way to discover new music is to hear it live first. Sugar Nova boasted its own unique indie-sleaze sound led by impressive vocals from the lead singer, Rachel Eisenstat.
Electro-pop, indie dance, disco funk, indie sleaze: something about these genres entices my body, mind, and spirit. This music evokes what I imagine it feels like to be inside an 80s pop video. It’s played in the background at some of the best parties I’ve been to, but also rings nostalgic by reminding me of the music videos I used to watch on VH1 in the 90s when I was a kid.
Despite performing on a professional stage, MINKA's show made me feel like I was at a costume party taking place in somebody’s basement, complete with DIY fixtures, rudimentary technical features, and bisexual lighting. The lead singer’s oversized white fur coat reminded me of someone who got very drunk at a frat party and took the party’s theme very much to heart.
Nowadays, people don’t dance at concerts or at the club like they used to. Dancing is so millennial—so cringe! Partygoers go big on the outfits and the appearance of it all, but keep it chill on the dance floor, just swaying or bopping to the music. When Gen Z does dance, their movements are not overly expressive. Maybe that's because younger generations tend to socialize primarily online — they're accustomed to expressing themselves within the confines of small screens rather than open public spaces.
Perhaps when we’ve collectively overcome our pandemic-induced agoraphobia, venues will once again be packed to capacity every night; Brooklyn Bowl's 900-capacity venue probably saw a turnout closer to 100 last Friday. Until then, I urge you to not sleep on MINKA or any of their contemporaries. They are the bands keeping the spirit of Bowie alive — and resurrecting the art of being yourself, in-person, LIVE.
Follow MINKA on Instagram @weareminka.
