MUNA Brings the Heat to the Rady Shell with Hemlocke Springs
Last Friday night, October 16, 2026, indie pop band MUNA brought the It Gets So Hot Tour to the Rady Shell in San Diego, and absolutely brought the heat. They released their fourth studio album, Dancing On The Wall, earlier this year, a dark synth pop album that aims to return to the core elements of their first record. The album is a cinematic experience, diving into topics of longing and desire, and what it feels like to give into those feelings in a world like ours. It celebrates community and queerness with pop perfection and lyrics that leave you reflecting on your own relationship with desire, yourself, and the world.
Opening up the show is the incredible hyper pop superstar Hemlocke Springs. She released her debut album, the apple tree under the sea, earlier this year, making a huge splash in the pop world and gaining traction after opening for Chappell Roan and Conan Gray last year. Her high energy performance style is perfect to set the MUNA mood, energizing the crowd, having them jump and teaching chants to her songs that got the crowd interacting and engaged. She has impressive world building skills, wearing an apron for one song, grabbing a glittering bedazzled sword in another, even handing out small styrofoam swords to fans in the front row for the performance of her newest single “Gloria.”
The moment MUNA takes the stage you can’t take your eyes away til they’re gone, or really ever. They start the show with their opening track “It Gets So Hot,” a dance electronic synthy momentum building opener, there is no choice but to dance and to jump, especially after guitarist Josette Maskin yells “JUMP!” The jolt of energy they bring to the stage transfers to the crowd in a beautiful osmosis and it is impossible to let go of. There’s a seamless transition into the next song, “Dancing On The Wall,” the title track and first single released off of the album, a gorgeous 80’s influenced pop song with an incredible hook and just enough theme of heartbreak that everyone can relate to and that dancing it out in community eases. Lead singer and songwriter Katie Gavin delivers a depth of vocals that feels like such a release, she is mesmerizing to watch as she dances and spins on stage. The album has a couple “crying in the club” moments, demonstrated so stunningly in an almost performance art-esque live show component to the song “So What,” in which Katie sings sarcastically of how it doesn’t matter if who she wants doesn’t want her back, due to all her adoring fans and fame. The song ends with a massively cinematic production feat by keyboardist, vocalist, and ground breaking producer Naomi McPherson. (This is a special show for Naomi, who’s hometown is San Diego!) During the stunning outro, Katie sits facing a camera that projects onto the screens behind her, in a dissociative state, often shedding tears, emulating a well of feeling and isolation, something we have all felt at one time or another.
Arguably the most powerful song on the setlist is the political rage track, “Big Stick.” They introduce it by quoting Hannah Einbinders’ iconic Emmy speech, “Go Birds, Fuck ICE, Free Palestine!” It’s incredibly smart lyrical feat taking on the surveillance state we live in, American imperialism and government control. It does not hold back one bit in the messaging, the song really speaks for itself.
“Make you wanna build an army and wage a war,
Make you wanna show the world what America’s for,
How America gives more than America takes,
We give weapons to dictators and apartheid states.”
Art is inherently political, and MUNA shows a depth of understanding of that that creates such an empowered community of fans, reminding us that we aren’t alone, we are all affected by the state of the world. Knowing that others feel this way too, even your idols or favorite artists, can make you feel less alone, and more empowered through community. The song “Eastside Girls” is a celebration of that community, and everyone becomes an Eastside Girl once you learn the chant and that charged, anthemic bridge. The city of LA is certainly a character within the world of Dancing On The Wall, and it comes alive in this song.
Another time honored MUNA tradition is meeting Stacy during “Anything But Me,” off of their self titled album. As a reference to the lyrics, “You’re gonna say that I’m on a high horse, I think that my horse is regular sized,” they bring a small inflatable horse out for this song, tell us her name is Stacy, and right before the chorus Katie punts that horse into the crowd. Stacy gets smacked and passed all around the pit for the rest of the song. In San Diego, the aforementioned icon Hannah Einbinder, friend of MUNA and Emmy winning actress, delivers Stacy to the stage and Katie gives her a quick and darling little spin before she goes.
Every live MUNA show is an empowering space full of queer joy with an atmospheric sonic world to live in. Upbeat danceable melodies, layered with mesmerizing synths and lyrics of intense desire, fear, and ultimately coming together in community to feel these things as one. They create an environment like no other and they prove themselves time and time again as their self proclaimed tag line, “Greatest Band in the World.”
