Muna, Taylor Swift’s new favorite band, rocks San Francisco after Coachella show

When a band becomes big enough, there’s a feeling of missed opportunity if you didn’t get to see it before it blew up. This is extra true for a city with as rich of a music history as San Francisco has. What must it have been like to see Metallica at The Stone? Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Avalon? The Grateful Dead at the Fillmore?

Obviously, there’s no promise that Muna, an indie-pop trio on the rise, will reach the heights of those rock legends, but after seeing the band bring the house down at the Warfield on Wednesday, April 19, one got the sense that it may have been the last time to catch the band at such an intimate venue.

Muna’s three members — lead singer Katie Gavin, keyboardist/guitarist Naomi McPherson and guitarist Josette Maskin — began making music when they were students at the University of Southern California in the mid-2010s. They started achieving modest success around 2017, including getting booked for an early set at Outside Lands. But the band’s popularity jumped up a level when it signed with Phoebe Bridgers’ record label in 2021 and released its self-тιтled album, “Muna,” the following year. Led by the single “Silk Chiffon,” which has garnered over 42 million streams on Spotify, “Muna” has been the band’s biggest record

by far.

Judging by the sold-out Warfield crowd, you’d think Muna had already risen to pop music’s highest heights. Fans, clad in Muna apparel with references to their favorite lyrics, stuffed the pit as tightly as they could, eager to get as close to the band as physically possible. It’s no exaggeration to say that most members of the audience knew the words to every single song. Concert organizers confirmed tickets had sold out just after the show’s announcement.

Muna’s San Francisco performance came amid a slew of important dates for the band. The Warfield set took place between the group’s shows during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s first and second weekends, which Phoebe Bridgers and the rest of Boygenius crashed. This summer, Muna is scheduled to open during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which is expected to be one of the highest-grossing tours of all time. Swift herself is a big fan of the band, telling an audience in March, “They’re a band I love so much. They’re honestly all over every playlist of mine.”

In person, it’s easy to see that Muna’s strength comes from the band’s versatility. During the set, Muna’s songs ran a gambit of genres: “Anything but Me” is classic pop; “Number One Fan” has strong electronica elements; “Runner’s High” rages like a headbanger; “Taken” is a country song. Even with differing styles, the songs have universal themes: wanting to fit in, craving a cold drink, having a crush.

All three of the band’s main members identify as LGBTQI+, and throughout the evening, they showed love to their community. McPherson waved a transgender pride flag from a fan to raucous applause. Some of the loudest cheers of the night came when McPherson and guitarist Maskin shared a quick kiss on stage. “Kind of Girl,” a country-inspired love song, was dedicated specifically to the trans community. Toward the very end of the show, Gavin thanked the crowd for its love and support. “I just want to say, thank y’all for reminding me why I love being queer so much,” Gavin said before breaking into “Silk Chiffon,” the night’s final song.

Even as Muna’s Taylor Swift and Coachella shows loomed, the band seemed specifically excited to be playing in San Francisco. The city clearly means a lot to it. Muna played a set at the Fillmore less than six months previously, a fact it noted while explaining its love for Bay Area audiences. (The Warfield seats nearly twice as many people as the Fillmore — yet another sign of the band’s growing popularity.) Gavin said the Warfield performance, at just over 90 minutes, was “one of the longest sets we’ve ever done in our career.” Judging by the enthusiasm still radiating as the crowd poured out, the audience would happily have stayed for another 90 minutes.

They may get that chance soon. Although Muna is opening only the Midwest leg of Swift’s tour, based on the band’s professed love for the Bay Area, it’s likely to return to Northern California in the not-too-distant future. And when that day comes, Muna is going to need a venue with a lot more seats.