UPDATE – 1ST NOVEMBER 2025
In light of the statements released by Kim Jennett (hers in full here), Grace Jane Pasturini, Amber Maldonado, Patri Grief and more, we will no longer be covering Dogma going forward. We’re leaving the review below online as a testament to the talents and abilities of the performers who gave us a great show despite the apparently / allegedly shitty contracts they were being fucked over by.
All performing artists deserve to be treated with respect – by their employers as much as by anyone else.
The first I actually heard of Dogma was when our photographer this evening, Luis, got in touch asking to cover the show. I realised they were on at Bloodstock so I might have a chance to catch them twice, realised how busy I get when covering festivals and offered to cover the review for tonight. Because I also forgot how tiring four days at a festival followed by a 7 hour drive is. Oops.
So, exhausted and having only been home for an hour I headed for Audio and the huge queue outside. Which I skipped because Luis had arrived earlier and was at the front. Score.
I’ve never seen a nun lying on a merch table before, so tick that one off the list, though she wasn’t there for too long as the queue for shirts built up quickly as the capacity crowd filed in. Support tonight was a DJ playing some cracking classic rock numbers who did a good job in getting the crowd going – pretty much what a warmup is meant to do.
I did, as it happens, catch a couple of Dogma’s songs at Bloodstock and they owned the huge SOPHIE stage. Dynamic, charismatic and fun… but how would they manage to contain this act on the much more… cosy stage at Audio? Staggeringly well, as it turns out.
Dogma’s music is slap in the middle of hard rock / metal territory and as such feels immediately familiar even when you’ve not heard the songs before. The rhythms tickle the part of your brain that wants to nod its bony house, or encourage your hands to do the clapping thing. That’s not to say that all their material sounds the same – far from it. When you have mainstream metal numbers like “Bare To The Bones” mixed with foxtrot metal(!) track “Banned”, down-tuned hammering numbers like “My First Peak” and the soaring Disney-esque “Be Free” there’s no denying that Dogma don’t lack variety.
Actually, referring back to “My First Peak”… I couldn’t help but think of Psychostick’s “SO. HEAVY.” and the “teabag the stage” quote, a metal move that tonight’s band were certainly performing tonight. Erm… is it still teabagging when it’s nuns? You know, because… well.
Anyway.
Each member has their own face makeup and personality, a little like a certain band that hailed from Detroit and bassist Nixe (or at least the current Nixe, I gather different women have filled most of the roles over time) really channels her inner Demon / Gene Simmons. I don’t know if it’s deliberate or just a bassist thing, but some of those poses…!
Long story short – a cracking set, some brilliant songs, and I’m impressed that the same band can happily transfer from a stage the size of the SOPHIE to a stage the size of Audio’s without seeming either lost or cramped. Definitely a band who live up to the hype.
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Photos by Non Serviam
