LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: Katie Gavin in Boston, MA (12.14.24)
As we slide into that three-week holiday limbo, one of the final gigs of the 2024 season went down this past Saturday night. Katie Gavin, fresh off the release of her debut solo album, What a Relief (released 10/25), and frontwoman of the celebrated act MUNA, took on an intimate sold-out show at Brighton Music Hall. As alluded to later in the set, this may have been Gavin’s one-off solo tour experience. But after Gavin explained why this may be the only solo tour, the crowd’s response was electric. Gavin said, “There’s something else I need to do. I need to write a new MUNA record. This has been amazing, but I need to lock in.” This elicited wild cheers from one of the most respectful audiences of music lovers I’ve seen, especially in the return to live music settings. Shows like these solo experiences in these times, with some being the singer of punk favorite The Menzingers, Oli of the more Warped-aesthetic Broadside, are moments that were for the die-hards and a sure treat; while these bands were prepping to jump back into full band touring on a larger scale.
This show sold out immediately, and the line wrapped around the block an hour after doors, clarifying what the night would bring. Katie Gavin is no stranger to the club she has returned to, where she last played with MUNA in 2017. MUNA has come a long way from those days, with their most recent headlining show in Boston just last year at Roadrunner, which holds an impressive capacity of 3,500. In the antsy ten minutes before Gavin and her stagemates took the stage for this solo venture, the room was packed to a degree I’ve never seen before, as someone who has attended many a sold-out show at this iconic venue. To the point where a bartender I know who was working commented that she’d seen tons of sold-out shows filled with burly men, and it’s never even come close to the packed-like sardines feel that the venue had this evening.
But that pack of sardines didn’t create an unruly packed show like so many of the past. The crowd was hers from the moment Gavin walked on stage for her hour-and-two-minute set. Unless she called for it, the crowd didn’t sing a word. Instead, soaking it all in. Gavin soared through every track off the album, with one addition of “She Gives Me Feelings.” A track that she has been playing on this tour and one that was obsessively delicious. The album pulls out twelve songs in just under forty minutes, which allowed some serious interaction from the crowd despite the hour-long set time (honestly, my ideal set-all music, no filler). Early on in the set, her wit sparkled throughout. Encouraging people to ask questions and interact, considering it’s something when, with MUNA, it’s a lot harder to have that one-on-one moment. From a fan asking what her favorite Taylor Swift album is, Gavin responded with Speak Now. Eliciting big whoops from the crowd, and at one point laughing when a barrage of questions flicked in, saying, “Okay, I’m going to play a song now,” in lieu of responses as the crowd just giggled.
Standouts for the crowd included moments like “As Good As It Gets,” early on in the set, a duet recorded with Mitski, but for this time around, Gavin’s bandmate, Nana Adjoa, took on the duties. Just after Adjoa sang the first line, the crowd exploded in cheers, and the positive energy and encouragement wasn’t hesitant at all through the night. It also came from both ends, like Gavin saying simply, “Thank you, babies,” after playing her track “Inconsolable.” With “Casual Drug Use,” a sweet moment came when Gavin said, “You sound so good.”
While starting the set out slowly with introspective moments like “Today” and “Sparrow,” the crowd was tuned in, dressed in complete silence as they let the songs fill the room. From then on, though, it was no armed barred, as Gavin and her fans voices’ began to fill the room with huge sing-alongs to moments like those mentioned above, “As Good As It Gets” and “Casual Drug Use,” and of course, the ending moment of “Aftertaste”.
Considering the choice for the end of the set, it was clear there would be no encore messed around with her. Another one of my preferences regarding shows in the live setting. We all know when that house music doesn’t go up right away, crowds just stand around and don’t take on the encore chant as much as I remember it being a thing. And the hour set didn’t leave fans sad, it just left them joyous that they could be one of the ones to experience a live arrangement they may not get the chance to see again. Gavin and her team put on a flawless set, and her engagement with the crowd was perfect. It will surely be a show that will be in the minds of those in attendance for a long time to come. The Brighton Music Hall walls are covered in signed posters from iconic shows of years past that have happened there, and indeed, Saturday night’s gig will surely be one we see for years on those walls.
Photos – Katie Gavin at Brighton Music Hall in Boston, MA on December 14th: (by John Hutchings)
