Photos by Kayalani DeGrave
Thirteen years ago, MUNA was formed at the USC Thornton School of Music, and last weekend, the band ushered in their latest era with two shows at the Shrine Expo Hall just across the street. After touring their 2022 self-titled record around the world and back, the group took a break during which Katie Gavin released her solo record, What A Relief, Josette Maskin produced for the Jonas Brothers, Naomi McPherson played Janis Ian in Saturday Night, and all three artists continued to be outspoken activists for human rights. Since we last saw them on stage together, the world has changed for the worse while MUNA has evolved for the better, and the band’s latest record, Dancing On The Wall, finds them grappling with what it means to make pop music amidst a period of political turmoil. At its core, Dancing On The Wall is about the importance of expression and connection which made hearing the album performed live just twenty-four hours after its release feel like the only way to properly celebrate the trio’s triumphant return.
LA was cold and gloomy on Friday night, but as the crowd poured into the Shrine, bodies filled the room with heat just in time for MUNA’s aptly-titled album opener, “It Gets So Hot.” Even with a simple stage setup of instruments, live feed visuals, and bold red lighting, it was clear from the second the band stepped out that they have more than leveled up live, putting their experience opening for The Eras Tour to good use and bringing a stadium-worthy energy that made them look and sound like total rockstars.
From there, they made their way through the tracklist, and the infectious energy in the room didn’t dip once. After performing the title track to the giving crowd, Gavin remarked, “I knew it was gonna feel good, but I didn’t know it’d feel this good.” LA concert crowds tend to leave a lot to be desired, but as Gavin sings on instant earworm “Eastside Girls,” “When the company is right, it’s another beautiful day in the neighborhood.” The company was perfect that night with everyone living in the moment, singing along to songs they just heard hours before, and falling back in love with the band that continues to make this city proud.
Perfectly embodying the tension between trying to savor the moment and knowing the feeling will end when the party’s over, the album was undoubtedly written with live shows in mind. The concert served as both an escape from the outside world and an acknowledgment of how that fear can creep into even these brief moments of respite. “On Call,” “So What,” “Mary Jane,” “Girl’s Girl,” and “Why Do I Get A Good Feeling” vulnerably captured the drunken desire to reconnect with a toxic old flame just to delay the crash of a comedown. However, it was the anti-capitalist, anti-war protest song “Big Stick” that really came alive on stage, bookended by McPherson shouting, “Free Palestine!” and Gavin expressing, “We’ve been a political band since we started. We’re showing people that it’s fully possible to speak out about what you believe in and still have a career.”
Similarly, “Buzzkiller” proved itself to be a terrific album closer, exemplifying the hopelessly existential feeling of knowing that experiencing the highs of a party, a career, a protest, or a relationship also means having to come back down to Earth eventually. As Gavin emotionally sang, “You think I’m so easy to love / Baby, please, you’re just buzzed / I’m a buzzkiller,” a timer ticked down on the screens behind her to remind the crowd that even this night will come to an end. Thankfully, it wasn’t time to wrap up quite yet as the band soon returned to the stage to reassure the crowd that the night was just beginning before performing eight fan favorites from across their discography. Songs like “Stayaway,” “What I Want,” “Number One Fan,” “Promise,” “Anything But Me,” and “One That Got Away” brought the crowd’s energy to new heights, but even then, the phones didn’t come out. It was simply a joyful scene of thousands of fans present in the moment, waving their hands in the air, losing their voices, and soaking up the chance to finally hear the songs they know and love live again after all this time.
MUNA’s debut album was released just days after Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, and “I Know A Place,” the band’s quintessential track about the importance of safe spaces for the LGBTQ community, has stayed a setlist staple. Live performances of the song occasionally include an extended bridge that addresses the song’s continued relevancy, and hearing it in 2026 while still living the words written a decade ago was simultaneously terrifying and empowering. With the Downtown LA skyline projected in the background, the band and crowd proposed a way forward: “Even if our skin or our gods look different, I believe all human life is significant / I throw my arms open wide in resistance / He’s not my leader even if he’s my president.”
Given how many celebrities were watching from the balcony, MUNA could have had their pick of special guests to sing Phoebe Bridgers’ iconic “Silk Chiffon” verse to close out the show, but they ended things with a high note all on their own. “We had the chance to showcase our pain on this record, but sharing it with you is a joyful experience,” Gavin said before performing the queer anthem that left the venue and surrounding streets radiating with joy.
MUNA has repeatedly cited 24 Hour Party People — a 2002 mockumentary on Tony Wilson and the birth of British rave culture — as a key inspiration for the sound and aesthetics of Dancing On The Wall, and it shows in their performance from the visuals to the energy. During one of my favorite scenes in the film, Steve Coogan playing Tony Wilson breaks the fourth-wall to establish the principle his work lives by: “I agree with John Ford. When you have to choose between the truth and the legend…print the legend.” For ninety minutes on a Friday night, just across the street from where it all began for Gavin, Maskin, and McPherson, the truth and the legend converged. This is the greatest band in the world.
Listen to Dancing On The Wall below and catch MUNA on the Gets So Hot Tour this year!
