All rise for ‘gay church’

On Friday night, thousands of MUNA fans lined up outside of The Met Philadelphia to see the band’s sold-out show on their Life’s So Fun tour. The group’s shows have become a space where the city’s queer community can safely celebrate. When the band comes to town, the experience is so queer-centric that many concertgoers call it “gay church.”

“It’s not necessarily about believing in a higher being, but the fact that we all believe in each other,” explained 19-year-old Temple University student Jyckell Perez, who was raised an Evangelical Christian and identifies as a lesbian. “We are the higher power.”

MUNA members Katie Gavin, Josette Maskin, and Naomi McPherson all identify as queer and McPherson is nonbinary. The band has said they were initially wary of being labeled as a “queer band” but that it “makes sense” for the type of music they create.

Perez, wrapped in two fleece blankets, arrived at the North Broad Street venue around 11 a.m. to line up by herself and quickly found community with Official MUNA Nation moderator Natalie Filip and photographer Rachel Minot. Minot and Filip met at a previous MUNA show and became fast friends with Perez when they lined up behind her.

Each has had their own struggle when it comes to religion and sexuality, and they have all found comfort in loving the same band.

“I’m sure there was definitely some sort of repression due to religion and just feeling like it was wrong,” said Filip, who also identifies as a lesbian.

For Minot, growing up in a Catholic household felt “suffocating” until they were able to come out to their family as queer.

“People who are in religious households and religious groups, they may not feel safe enough to come out, it’s heartbreaking,” they said. “In Philly, I know there’s a church that’s run by a queer pastor and it’s great seeing that. But knowing that there are people who have a totally different experience, it’s sad.”

Last Friday, they were surrounded by folks who felt welcome to be their most genuine selves, and much of that is thanks to the the music MUNA makes and how the band shows up for its community.

On stage, it’s clear that the group is deeply connected by friendship and understanding. They put on a show, complete with playful flirting, kissing each other, and worshiping each other’s bodies, but it isn’t at all forced. It shows the audience that they are all one and the same, and the audience revels in it.

If you grew up in the era when MTV played music videos, you’ll likely know of songs like “All the Things She Said” by t.A.T.u. and “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry, and how those songs were considered to be the queer community’s anthems. But for many, those songs actually range from queerbait to homophobic.

“I don’t remember many openly queer songs from being a teenager aside from ‘I Kissed a Girl’ by Katy Perry and that was like, super not empowering,” said Alyssa Ciampaglia, who identifies as sapphic and owns a “bi-scent-ual” online candle shop.

“And having music that isn’t only queer but also like, ‘we’re writing songs about what we’ve lived through and our experiences’, it doesn’t feel like pandering.”

Ciampaglia recalls loving bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, made up of men who were often perceived to be queer because they didn’t fit into masculine stereotypes.

“I always heavily identified with these men who seemed to be queer and I was very big into the fan-fiction community. But growing up and actually seeing women and nonbinary people in the music scene who are queer finding each other and touring and creating these groups makes me feel like, finally there’s a space where I can fit in,” she said.

“Something about MUNA being who they are, particularly for women who like women, makes me feel a lot safer going to the show.”

Kaylin Cho, 19, agrees, saying the atmosphere is “liberating.”

“You go in and there’s totally no feeling of judgment,” said Cho. “It’s just so accepting and it’s where you want to be.”

And the vibe at the show does feel accepting, even euphoric. Lights change from soft violet to pink to orange, like a sunset reflecting off the gold accents of the venue’s walls. The band’s lead singer, Gavin, sings songs about queer love and heartbreak and desire, and talks about what playing these shows means to her.

“I was once told that my lyrics were too real,” Gavin said. “But it’s very heartening that I can write about these experiences that sometimes feel very lonely.”

MUNA opened their set with “What I Want,” an electronic pop song about claiming autonomy over, well, what they want.

“I’m a first-year college student and nothing has been able to describe me finally being able to leave home and express myself and do what I want [like this song],” said Perez. “There’s a line in the song that says ‘I spent way too-too-too many years not knowing what I want and how to get it.’ And it’s like, I finally know how to do that.”

Filip agreed, saying the song relates to the experience of “going through gay puberty.”

The crowd matched the explosive energy of when the band first came on the stage all the way through to the encore, which started with their 2017 single “I Know A Place”.

“We dedicate this song to all the queer and trans [people] that are here tonight,” Gavin said as the stage lighting turned blue, pink, and white, representing the colors of the trans pride flag.

And to close out Friday night service, the band played what was probably the most highly anticipated song of the night: “Silk Chiffon,” which currently has almost 44 million streams on Spotify and 1.8 million views on YouTube. Most fans will claim at least half of those streams came from their own account.

Before the show, Ciampaglia says she knows it will feel like “a religious experience” to hear the song live, and Perez feels similarly passionate about it.

“I don’t think that any song can describe the feeling of being happy and being gay like ‘Silk Chiffon,’” Perez said.

“I feel like it explains the queer experience perfectly, because I feel like loving a woman has to be the most pure form of love.”