Recently, I had the opportunity to see indie supergroup Boygenius at their first headlining show, with special guests MUNA, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This was my second time seeing The Boys, a nickname coined by the band and their fans. I saw them at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage in June and was absolutely itching to see them again.
Boygenius, also known as singers Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers, has been a massive hit after the April release of their first album, The Record. This breaks a five-year hiatus after the 2018 release of their self-titled EP.
This was also my first time seeing MUNA, which is composed of singer Katie Gavin, guitarist Josette Maskin and singer/instrumentalist Naomi McPherson, who you may recognize from their 2020 hit, “Silk Chiffon” which features Bridgers.
Both MUNA and Boygenius pride themselves on their identities, with all of the artists identifying as queer and McPherson identifying as nonbinary. This is also reflected in their fans, with most identifying as something in the LGBTQIA community. This has been seen as a big source of passion for the bands and inspiration for their music.
In a March 2023 interview with Vogue Magazine, Phoebe Bridgers said, “So, I feel better about talking about our experiences and representing queerness in general. Even though I said we don’t need to be role models, I would have been happy to look up to us when I was 12, and that’s something I can be proud of.”
On my way to see MUNAGenius, a portmanteau of both bands’ names, I would catch glimpses of people’s themed outfits. Some shirts modelled after Boygenius’ “True Blue” music video, with blue handprints on white shirts or a pink sparkly top that read “MUNA made me gay!” My ensemble was not much different, as I wore a top that said, “I love Lucy Dacus,” which got many compliments as I walked through the venue.
The positive energy didn’t just stop at complimenting outfits; it was also present throughout MUNA and Boygenius’ sets, and you could feel it all around the arena. From the on-beat air punching during MUNA’s “Runner’s High” to the synchronized sniffles during Boygenius’ ballad “We’re in Love.”
This outpouring of support and energy was felt and noticed by both groups, with MUNA using the MUNAGenius portmanteau when acknowledging the crowd and Boygenius breaking out in tears.
Personally, this show meant a lot more to me than what meets the eye. When I came out, there weren’t a lot of mainstream, female, queer artists available to me, and I didn’t have a group of people I could resonate with musically.
Both MUNA and Boygenius came into my musical rotation around my first year of university. I felt peace while listening to them, knowing these artists had experiences that I could personally resonate with and relate to — from talking about community with songs like “I Know A Place,” to heartbreak and, most importantly, queer joy. My eyes were opened to a new gay musical world, and I had these two groups to thank for it.