"Front of the Line” is a recurring series where GBH News' Haley Lerner explores fan culture and talks to the people who show up first in line to see their favorite musicians.
Indie-pop band Muna took the stage at Roadrunner on Saturday to a sold-out crowd.
The concert was a safe space for LGBTQ people to gather and enjoy music that makes them happy. The band, which consists of Katie Gavin, Josette Maskin and Naomi McPherson, all identify as queer, and McPherson is nonbinary.
Muna, who is perhaps most famous for their joyful collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers, “Silk Chiffon,” have had a whirlwind uptick in their career – they’ve been opening for select dates on Taylor Swift’s "The Eras Tour," and previously opened for major names like Harry Styles and Kacey Musgraves. Now, they’re playing their own shows, packed with their own adoring fans.
Julia Mastandrea, who lives nearby the venue in Brighton, showed up bright and early at 10 a.m. to get as close as she could.
“I just really love the music, it’s so fun to dance to and it’s really meaningful to be in a space surrounded by a lot of other queer people and to be dancing and singing these songs,” she said. “It’s really special.”
Lead vocalist Gavin made a point to dedicate “Kind of Girl” to “any of the queer, trans cuties that are here.” At one point, while musing about how she wrote songs about bandmate McPherson, who is her ex, Gavin asked, “Anyone else have an ex here tonight?” When a few hands were raised, she added “Surprisingly not that many, considering.”
“Not very gay of you guys,” added McPherson, before the trio kicked into “Pink Light.”
The love for their inclusive music is what drove many fans to turn up early to get a coveted close up spot to their favorite artist.
Allison Stein, was among them, taking an early morning train from Providence to arrive at the venue by 11:30 a.m..
“Something about their music is very compelling and addictive to my mind,” Stein said. “I also love that they are so proudly gay, it’s beautiful, I love them. I’m so excited.”
Kieran Malik, who came to the show with Stein, said the barricade concert experience is something special.
“It's really cool to be so close to artists because I feel like so much of your interactions with them are listening to their songs from such a distance that it’s so cool to be close to the person who made those songs.”
Amy Chen showed up early to secure a spot where she could better see the show.
“I’m really short,” Chen said. “I feel like especially, there are some shows that I’ve been to where everyone is really tall. And so if I dont get there early then great, I’m sure everything’s going well but I might not know.”
This Muna show would be her seventh time seeing the band – and she’s gone to great lengths to see the band before.
“When I was living in St. Louis at the time, me and my friends rented a car to drive to Chicago to see them,” Chen said. “We had to duck tape the car back together midway through in the middle of nowhere Illinois and it was incredible. I will follow them anywhere.”
Jess Stoker and Eva McNally had already seen Muna at a special student performance at Wellesley College on May 3.
“You get a band of three lesbians performing in front of a bunch of lesbians, hit combo,” Stoker said.
“It was the best thing to happen in Wellesley College history, actually,” said McNally.
They were at the very front center barricade for the performance at their college, so the pair was more lax about their placement in the crowd this time around – but still showed up around 2 p.m. to line up.
“I love gay people who sing gay songs about being safe in queer spaces,” said Stoker, who would be seeing the band for their fifth time. “And people who are very outwardly proud that they’re trans and they love it. It's very empowering to listen to their music. They are also literally the sexiest band alive, they’re the hottest band alive.”
“It is very nice to be in a safe space made for queer people by queer people,” McNally said.
