MUNA

This show was amazing. I liked MUNA, but I walked out of there LOVING MUNA. I didn’t realize when I went in that they were going to rock my face off. They do a REALLY good live show. There are some moments from this show that I think are seared into my brain forever. So, I liked MUNA when I heard them, but I was in a long phase of not listening to music. Around the time I saw Anaïs Michelle at the Hollywood Forever Masonic Lodge, my sister also invited me to this show specifically because Jensen McRae was opening, who she had been following for years and been trying to see since before COVID times. After Anaïs, I made an effort to start listening to music again, and I put MUNA on rotation to get to know the songs and prepare for this show. I wasn’t prepared for my life to like, totally change? VENUE: The location for this venue is killer (street parking, walkable, so many local food options) and I think the interior is also great, except that this venue has some major drawbacks. Firstly, their rules about what can and can’t come in are not well-publicized- they weren’t in the venue info with the tickets (I returned to my car 2 separate times while my sister was in the security line, to put away my stainless water bottle, and our purses that were barely too large, and still didn’t learn until the checkpoint they also don’t permit birdie alarms inside. Oh well, I know for next time). Worse than that, this venue is hotter than the 7th circle of hell in warm weather. So Cal in August is WARM, but it’s San Diego, not Riverside! It was evening time, cooling off outside very pleasantly by the time we got in, but stifling inside. It only got worse as it filled up, and we like many others, wore masks indoors due to the close quarters. Waiting for both Jensen and MUNA, I was getting concerned for peoples’ safety. (I work in a very high heat environment, so while very unhappy, I knew I could handle it, but I was definitely concerned for my sister). We decided not to drink, even though we had planned on it. I’m talking standing totally motionless, fanning yourself and still having sweat running down your back and both legs, because it’s like 90 degrees indoors. There’s a small amount of cool airflow in a ton of little bitty dot grates on the floor. That’s innovative, but it wasn’t enough. I don’t expect huge old buildings to have great AC, but they need to be ventilated better, to try to be able match the indoor temperature to the outdoor one, (especially with constant outbreaks of airborne viruses like COVID and measles). There’s a missed opportunity in this venue to have side doors open to get a cross breeze, and to have big vent fans behind their beautiful latticed ceiling grates that pull the warm air out through the roof and allow the cool air from the side doors or floor vents in. It was INSANE how hot it was in there, and I think this venue is very lucky any summer night that they don’t have patrons getting sick or injured with serious heat illnesses. I would see another show at the Observatory because I love San Diego and North Park, but ONLY in cooler weather seasons.