Staff Editor on October 18th, 2023

0

MUNA’s hometown date Thursday night at the Greek Theatre lacked nothing for sheer exuberance.

The L.A. trio, sailing through the year on the enduring strength of 2022’s self-titled album, were playing the second of two nights at the Greek. Clearly, Katie Gavin, Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin, having clawed their way into the pop zeitgeist after humble beginnings back in 2014, were feeling it as much as the adoring crowd.

They devoted almost half their set to songs from “MUNA,” with opener “What I Want” setting the tone for the night and the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles joining in on “Kind of Girl.” They capped the main set with this past spring’s single, “One That Got Away,” before zooming into a three-song encore, climaxed by “Silk Chiffon.” For the big hit, MUNA was joined by the members of Boygenius — Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. Bridgers was particularly beaming; after all, it was the L.A. singer-songwriter’s label, Saddest Factory Records (an imprint of Dead Oceans), that threw its weight behind “MUNA.”

Blondshell, the project of Sabrina Teitelbaum, preceded MUNA with a strong nine-song set that included eight from her self-titled debut album (the deluxe edition of which came out earlier this month) and a cover of Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon.”

MUNA setlist: What I Want, Number One Fan, Solid, Stayaway, No Idea, Runner’s High, Everything, Loose Garment, Winterbreak, Kind of Girl (w/ Trans Chorus of Los Angeles), Taken, Around U, Pink Light, So Special, Loudspeaker, Since U Been Gone, Anything but Me, One That Got Away. Encore: Home by Now, I Know a Place, Silk Chiffon (w/ Boygenius)

Photos by Stevo Rood / ARood Photo