MUNA @ Headliners Music Hall - Louisville, KY

August 5th 2022: MUNA & Jensen McRae @ Headliners Music Hall - Louisville, KY

There is nothing quite like attending a sold out show and basking in the incredible love, energy, and joy emanating from the entire crowd of fans. This was the case on the evening of August 5th in Louisville, KY, when the LA indie-pop band MUNA brought their current tour to Headliners Music Hall in support of their recently released self-titled album. Comprised of Naomi McPherson, Katie Gavin, and Josette Maskin, the trio released the album on Phoebe Bridger’s Saddest Factory label. Opening the show this evening was LA-based singer, songwriter, and poet Jensen McRae. Although she was onstage with nothing but her soft, yet powerful voice and an acoustic guitar, she is the kind of artist that can command the room with her funny and witty banter, endearing personality, and stories behind her songs. She had many fans in the crowd this evening who were cheering with each song and singing along and it was apparent that she loves her fans as much as they love her. She ended her set with a song that had been requested by a fan, telling the crowd that she hoped that fan was here this evening. She went on to say how she had taken a songwriting program at USC at the age of 19 and how the professor had the class write letters to their 8th grade selves, which in turn became the song “Make You Proud”.

As the lights went down, signaling that MUNA was about to come out on stage, the crowd went wild! As the band came out on stage, it was apparent it was going to be an incredibly fun evening, as both the crowd and band were in high spirits and radiating a fun energy! What I noticed right away was how much fun Gavin, Maskin, and McPherson have together onstage with each other and how engaging they are with the crowd! Starting the evening off with “What I Want” from their new album, they proceeded to perform a nice setlist of older songs, such as “I Know A Place”, “If U Love Me Now”, “Number One Fan”, and “Stayaway”, to new songs such as “Runner’s High”, “Kind of Girl”, and “Shooting Star”. Thanking the fans for selling out the show this evening, they talked about how they had performed at this venue a few years ago, opening for Miike Snow. Asking how many people were seeing MUNA tonight for the first time, many people raised their hands. Singer Katie Gavin thanked everyone for coming out and for listening to their new music. “Ending” the set with “I Know A Place”, Gavin talked about how it was one of the first songs the band wrote together and how sometimes it can be hard to find moments of joy and release so when you find those moments, just go for it! After leaving the stage briefly, the band came back out for a two-song encore, both songs being off of the new album. Starting off the encore with “Shooting Star”, the band ended the evening with their recent smash hit “Silk Chiffon”, with Jensen McRae coming out to sing the part that Phoebe Bridger’s sings on the album. It was a really amazing end to a really amazing evening! Aside from the incredible evening of music, MUNA is very welcoming to the LGBTQI+ community and cultivates a warm and safe space for those within that community. At the band’s request this evening, the venue’s restrooms were made gender neutral. They definitely left the crowd eagerly awaiting their return to Louisville!

Jensen McRae

Sasha Alex Sloan @ Theater of Living Arts - Philadelphia

August 2nd 2022: Sasha Alex Sloan, Jessie Murph, slimdan @ Theater of Living Arts

Dan Smith | Bastille - Photos Courtesy of Carolyn Lederach

Sasha Alex Sloan set out this Summer on her I Blame The World tour in support of her latest record. If you’re a fellow fan, you’ll know Sasha’s unique brand of songwriting which emulates her sad girl persona, partnered with a stark look at what is going on in the world.

I Blame The World touches on subjects of global warming, shootings, relationships, growing up, and basically anything not great going on in our world today. This tour consisted of the new bops, along with other classic sad girl Sloan tunes like “Dancing With Your Ghost”, “Is It Just Me?”, “Older”, and more. I may be biased as I’ve been waiting to finally catch a Sasha Sloan show, but she sounded perfect and fully lived up to my expectations.

Jessie Murph

slimdan

Machine Gun Kelly @ Honda Canter - Anaheim, CA

July 16th 2022: Machine Gun Kelly, Avril Lavigne, WILLOW - Mainstream Sellout Tour @ Honda Canter - Anaheim, CA

Machine Gun Kelly - Photos Courtesy of Ali Stevens

Machine Gun Kelly brought his “Mainstream Sellout” Tour to the Honda Center in Anaheim accompanied by Avril Lavigne and WILLOW.

Willow was first to the stage opening with her smash hit “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l” and captured the audience’s attention with her colorful jumpsuit and amazing vocals. Not to mention shredding guitar during multiple songs throughout the set.

Avril Lavigne was second to hit the stage playing many of her classic hits we all know and love! First up was “Girlfriend”. As the drums began the intro to the song the crowd went wild with excitement. Avril made her entrance by floating up from under the stage with 4 balloons and the hype was real!!! One of the highlights for me was hearing everyone singing “Complicated” at the top of their lungs while they were stuck in line to buy food and merch. It was the ultimate sing-along I didn’t know I needed, and just shows the power of Avril.

Up next was the man himself, Machine Gun Kelly!!! Making one of the coolest entrances to a show I have ever seen. Similar to Avril, MGK was pulled from under the b stage by a rope ladder that was attached to a helicopter and flew around the arena for the entirety of the first song “Born with Horns”. MGK landed on the main stage and went right into “Rockstar” mode. Backed up by his band, MGK and crew brought the heat for the rest of the night.

Special guest appearances were made by Landon Baker, WILLOW, Avril Lavigne, and JXDN.

AVRIL LAVIGNE

WILLOW

Wet Leg @ Empty Bottle - Chicago

July 29th 2022: Wet Leg & Modern Nun @ Empty Bottle - Chicago

Wet Leg - Photos Courtesy of Timi Ikene

Wet Leg sold out the Empty Bottle venue for their after-show in 34 seconds. It's no surprise, given how their music has recently blown up. The duo put on an eclectic, high-energy show that showcased just exactly who Wet Leg is. Next time they're in town, be sure to grab tickets to the show!

IDLES @ The Metro - Chicago

July 28th 2022: IDLES & Taipei Houston @ The Metro - Chicago

IDLES - Photos Courtesy of Timi Ikene

A high-energy band, Taipei Houston, opened up for an even better headliner, Idles and the crowd happily squished themselves into a sweaty mosh pit. If you've ever had the pleasure of attending an Idles show, you know exactly how much energy the guys put into it. So much so that frontman Joe Talbot partially lost his voice while performing to the lovely crowd participating in the pit. Go see an Idles show, you won't regret it.

Wallows & Spill Tab @ The Anthem - Washington DC

Wallows & Spill Tab @ The Anthem - Washington DC

Cole Preston of Wallows - Photos Courtesy of Gabby Ames

On June 21st, Los Angeles based band, Wallows, played their biggest show yet at The Anthem in Washington D.C. Starting with “Hard To Believe” the venue was filled with the sound of fans singing along. Their music from their new album “Tell Me That It’s Over” had an 80’s synth feel to it. Before finishing up the night they took a request from the crowd and played “I’m Full”. They ended the night dancing and singing along to their most popular track yet, “Are You Bored Yet?”.

Spill Tab

LadyLand Festival 2022 - Brooklyn, NY

June 17th 2022: LadyLand Festival @ The Brooklyn Mirage

Photos courtesy of: Em Grey

Ladyland is a yearly queer music festival hosted by Ladyfag - boasting heaps of queer talent on its lineup and held at the outdoors Brooklyn Mirage. For one night only during pride month, partygoers can dance all their worries away from 8 pm to the hours of the next morning. This is my third year attending this festival - and it's an amazing time with beautiful energy every time. This year they sprung for an impressive giant LED screen wrapping all around the stage, showing gorgeous visuals during all the sets that kept the entire experience immersive and packed with good vibes (and even a confetti condom cannon.)

Previously boasting alternative talent the likes of King Princess, Kim Petras, Pablo Vittar, Caroline Polachek, and SOPHIE - this year’s lineup was no different in its star power. Headlined by pop icon Tinashe and DJ Honey Dijon, Ladyland has an impressive main stage, but also equally exciting lineups in two smaller areas of the venue - King's Hall and the Village. When I arrived around 9 pm - Stiletto was kicking the night off with a banging DJ set. Shortly after - Brooke Candy strolled onto the stage with two backup dancers in tow, absolutely serving us the performance that we needed.

Despite the schedule running a little bit late, that did not dampen a single person's spirits. Vanessa Vanjie took the stage next armed with a bottle of tequila, filling up the cups of many at the barricade as well as pouring it directly into fan'’ mouths. Shygirl captivated the audience next with her hypnotizing vocals and hyper-pop sound. The anticipation had been building all night - by this time the place was getting pretty packed and the energy was buzzing in the air. Sevdaliza, despite being able to have her full band with her due to visa issues, put on an energetic performance with beautiful cinematic visuals on the giant screen behind her. By the time Tinashe took the stage - the crowd was completely ready to absolutely go all out. Tinashe brought a slew of backup dancers and choreographed dances, keeping the energy up at insane levels for the rest of the night. As an ally, I love being able to celebrate members of the LGBTQIA+ community like this - it's always lots of love and joy and immensely welcoming in a way that other festivals can't quite live up to.

Bastille @ The Met - Philadelphia

June 15th 2022: Bastille, Josh Fudge @ The Met Philadelphia

Dan Smith | Bastille - Photos Courtesy of Carolyn Lederach

Not enough people seem to talk about the longevity of Bastille. Here we are four albums later since the debut release of Bad Blood where it all started (not to mention all of the amazing mixtapes as well). Something you can say about each of the Bastille albums is each have solid bops on each and every one.

Bastille returned to The Met in Philly for the release tour of their latest album, Give Me The Future. If you’ve been following Bastille since 2013 like I have, you’ll still be happy to know the live shows are still just as special as they were in the beginning, just a lot bigger. There is still an element of mild unsettling dystopia, a little big of goofiness, and (despite COVID) everyone’s favorite part where Dan joins the crowd for a walk around during a song. If you are an OG-Fan you also might be mildly disappointed that the day has finally come that old classics like “Bad Blood” and “Flaws” have been cut from the setlist.

Josh Fudge