US indie supergroup boygenius' highly anticipated show at Royal Hospital Kilmainham was a queer revelation. Baggy jeans and Doc Martens extended as far as the eye could see, as Irish queer people packed the venue to capacity at what was the group's last show on the European leg of their tour.

All well-established indie solo artists in their own right, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker make up the trio, a merging of worlds that has sent fans of all three into a frenzy. In a show of contradictions, the trio seemed determined to defy expectations. Each opener was tonally pretty removed from the other; a show mixing Irish trad with club-ready pop and the cream of indie melancholy might be a strange sell on paper, but a running theme of queer love and acceptance kept the invested audience engaged.

Ye Vagabonds delivered an unexpected but lovely set of Irish traditional music, Bridgers herself arriving early to introduce them as one of her “favourite Irish bands” and half-joking that if anyone’s friend is talking during their set, to tell them to “shut the fuck up.” A full band complete with a cello, a bass cello, multiple guitars and a mandolin seemed dwarfed by the sheer size of the stage, but they lived up to their reputation as one of the most innovative and engaging Irish trad bands in recent years.

Lucy Dacus. Boygenius at Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Copyright Miguel Ruiz

MUNA then roared onto the stage with enough energy to wake everyone up and then some. Their set of sparkling, polished queer pop was so exciting and put together that I momentarily forgot I wasn’t watching a headlining act. ‘Kind of Girl’ inspired an impromptu crowd-waving moment that made singer Katie Gavin cry, and the energetic ‘Runner’s High’ and ‘One That Got Away’ brought the house down.

Gavin is an excellent frontwoman, her raspy alto vocals and easy stage presence easily holding the attention of the whole crowd, despite many people not having heard MUNA's music before. She admitted to being “one of those Americans” with an Irish grandparent and a Celtic tattoo, expressing genuine excitement at playing the island for the first time. There was a comfortable– almost too comfortable– rapport with bandmates Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin, as they grinded on each other to the delight of me (gay) and thousands of other screaming queer people.

They ended their set with their enduring 2021 sapphic anthem ‘Silk Chiffon’, Phoebe Bridgers herself joining them onstage for the second verse. She was quickly followed by Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, completing the boygenius trio. MUNA has toured with Bridgers many times, signed under her label Saddest Factory Records, and it was clear just how highly both bands think of each other as they constantly tackled each other with hugs and kisses whenever possible.

If unaware parents or dragged-along boyfriends were expecting more club-ready bangers from boygenius’ headlining show, they were mistaken. boygenius’ set had its high-energy moments, but mostly it was a folky, emotional performance of deeply personal songs written to be cried along to.

Despite the melancholy tone of the group’s music, the show was as joyful as it was emotional. Queer platonic love stood directly at the forefront. Quiet, delicate guitar riffs echoed across the field as the trio’s velvety harmonies joined the crowd in singing along to every single word.

They played every single song on their fairly limited discography, the 2018 self-titled EP and their lauded, deeply complex debut album The Record released earlier this year. They performed the almost worship-like self-reflection of ‘Not Strong Enough’, the devastatingly euphoric ‘Salt In The Wound’ and my personal favourite of theirs, the quietly genius post-breakup lament ‘Cool About It’.

Julien Baker. Boygenius at Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Copyright Miguel Ruiz

Dacus delivered her signature devastating lyrics with sparkling honesty, her warm, warbling vocals as soothing as they were cutting. Girls swooned over Baker’s long-haired guitar riffing, and her raw, anachronistically high voice soared above the crowds. And Bridgers’ soft-yet-fiery vocals had a certain melancholic fury to them: she implored the audience to put their phones away during ‘Letter To An Old Poet’, a song she described as “really intense.” The lyrics have never felt so fitting. “You said my music is mellow/Maybe I’m just exhausted.”

None of them are even remotely new to large crowds like this one. They were able to connect to the audience with ease, despite the truly massive number of people in attendance. Coy moments of banter between songs were almost podcast-like in their level of comfortability - like when Bridgers discovered a strange puddle of unknown contents on her side of the stage (hey, they should start a podcast!). One of the best moments of the night was when she asked audience members to hold up pictures of their dog before playing their popular depression cut ‘Me & My Dog’, treating everyone to hundreds of adorable puppy photos plastered on the big screen (“this is my best idea ever!” she delightedly exclaimed).

Phoebe Bridgers. Boygenius at Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Copyright Miguel Ruiz

Finally, in what is perhaps the most memorable encore I have ever attended, the show ended with another favourite ‘Bite The Hand’ in which Katie Gavin from MUNA reappeared to scream along with both the trio and the audience. Despite a similar event last week at a show in Belgium, it was a staggering moment when Bridgers ripped her shirt open, showing her boobs and grinning ear to ear as she ran around the stage. The crowd were in a frenzy as Dacus joined in on the fun, passionately kissing her bandmates on the mouth while Baker delivered a ripping guitar solo lying down on the ground as curfew neared ever closer.

Upon reflection, it was a deeply empowering show where queer people dug their feet into the dirt and proved they could show their love for each other in exactly the way they wanted to.

As a woman, I believe there's a strong difference between being asked to take your shirt off by a male rockstar drunk on power and ripping it open as the rockstar yourself. And that’s what boygenius is: a supergroup of unlikely indie artists marking themselves as a new generation of rockstars.