Access review: Boygenius & MUNA, IMMA

Creating safe queer spaces and approaching access in a new way

boygenius, MUNA & Ye Vagabonds
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin 8
Monday, 28 August, 2023

I’ll admit it, I bought tickets for this show primarily for MUNA, but now I am fully on board the boygenius bandwagon. Arriving in Kilmainham just as Ye Vagabonds were wrapping up their support set, I missed the folkier side of things, but leaving more than enough time to prepare for what would be the most joyous celebration of queerness in pop and alt-rock possibly ever..?

Opening with What I Want, I slapped my pal Patrick so hard on the shoulder with excitement as MUNA made their leathery, denim-on-denim and toned arms entrance, like bad Buffy and Faith on that hell raising night out. At most outdoor gigs, the viewing platform would usually be so far away that the figures onstage would look like ants, but at this event MUNA were bigger - like bluebottles - and ain’t that something?

Emitting a profoundly sexual energy, one that’s joyous and not intimidating, MUNA bring a level of rock n’roll that most old rock fogeys claim doesn’t exist anymore. Playing banger after banger, they wrapped up with Silk Chiffon, the ultimate anthem in queer love. With Phoebe Bridgers running onstage for her guest verse, and Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, the other boygeniuses, for a rollicking last chorus, it’s clear that both bands are doing more than revamping the face of rock; they’re showing young, and more mature, queer kids that new roads are always being paved in equality and representation, even if some people are dead set on creating diversions.

And it’s been a tough week for LGBTQ+ music fans*, which you can read about over on GCN and Nialler9, so it’s amazing to see a space that encourages everyone to show up as themselves and to show up for others.