RAEGAN, Pigeon Pit, and Autoheart bring Queer Joy to the Cornerstone

On a rather uneventful St. Patrick’s Day, I found myself on the 36 (which almost didn’t stop for me) making my way towards Downtown Berkeley for a Sunday evening concert at the Cornerstone. The headliner for the night was Autoheart, a queer UK band who was on the second leg of their first ever United States tour. Accompanied by two other queer artists, the evening was one full of queer validation and acceptance with lesbian pop, folk rock, and indie-pop as the soundtrack. 

After a somewhat tumultuous time trying to get in, I was immediately greeted with a collection of songs that I can only describe as my “2020 COVID delusion era.” From Lemon Demon to AJJ, the songs seemed to be resonating with the queer indie audience of those in attendance. Most of the concert-goers were dressed in outfits that seemed to jump out of my TikTok for you page over 2020: exaggerated black eyeliner, clashing colors, Hawaiian shirts, and a lot of bright patterns. It seemed like I was the only one that remembered that it was St. Patrick’s Day since I was donned in green, save for the clueless parents that had come with their teenagers to the concert. Settling into the balcony on one of the very few (and coveted) seats, I waited to see if the reminiscent feeling of a defined era of my high school life would continue throughout the night. 

The first opener of the night was RAEGAN, a 21-year old lesbian pop artist that produces and writes all of her own music. Accompanied by her band, which has affectionately named themselves “The Corner Store,” I found myself immediately enthralled by her stage presence. With a stuffed animal draped over her microphone, her powerful voice was only overshadowed by her theatricality on stage. My favorite song of hers from the night was “WALTZ,” a queer take on the classic Romeo and Juliet tropes that often come up within songs and their storytelling. Her voice was haunting throughout the song, using her unique tone and cadence to emphasize her performance. With songs like “COINS,” the young singer-songwriter demonstrated how she comes up with her songs, using simple ideas like a coin dropping to be the inspiration for her music. Her musical prowess was shown even further when RAEGAN covered Olivia Rodrigo’s song “Vampire,” and added her own verse inside of the piece. It amazed the audience how the young artist could place her own spin on music that is already at the forefront of pop culture. Her performance was one that had me hooked on the edge of my seat the entire time, my attention glued to the stage whether it be through my gaze as RAEGAN dominated the stage or through the lens of my camera. Needless to say, her music found its way to my playlists by the end of the night. 

Pigeon Pit was the next band to take the Cornerstone stage, with their main singer coming onto the stage barefoot. This sort of kooky attitude was one that dominated the band’s set, with the band bringing an energy that I listed within my notes of the concert that night as “Oregon or Washington based-band that you could smoke a joint and talk to them about life vibes.” This point was proved later on, as the lead singer admitted that one of their songs was written about the “best American pastime–getting high on your couch with your friends.” With a plethora of energy as the guitarist, banjoist, and main singer jumped up and down on the stage like they were barefoot on burning hot cement on a pool deck during the summer, the band had an indescribable pull on everyone in the venue. Each song brought with it an abundance of headbanging. It was amazing to see a band actually bring in environmental messages about how we are destroying our planet, and taking a stance on all of the political and humanitarian issues that are occurring in our world right now- especially with music that conveyed messages of political activism. On top of this massive green flag, the main singer was a trans woman who spoke to the audience about the journey of discovering themselves and how it was so validating to be in a room filled with other queer and trans people. To see the huge community that had rallied together in Berkeley from all different parts of the Bay Area to support not one, not two, but three queer artists was a highlight of the night. 

Autoheart opened up the screams of an excited crowd of a sold-out venue. Opening up with classics like “Moscow” and the trending “Stalker’s Tango,” which contributed to the revival of the band thanks to fandom communities around the world using it for animations, TikToks, and the like, it was obvious that the UK queer band had such an appreciation for their fans who had come out to support them at the show. The main singer, Jody Gadsen, was wearing an oversized blazer the entire night, giving him the personality of a “little boogie man in a big ass suit,” jamming along and grooving to all of the songs as he entertained the audience. Songs like “We Can Build a Fire” and “Agoraphobia” got the crowd singing loudly along as the lights seemed to merge with green lasers and the reflection of a disco ball inside of the Cornerstone. While Autoheart’s performance was not as theatrical as RAEGAN’s or energized as Pigeon Pit’s, their stellar vibes and engagement with the audience, coupled with a glaring passion as they performed on stage made it obvious as to why they were the headliners of the show. 

My two favorite songs of the night were “Time Machine” and “Wretch,” two songs that are on the opposite sides of the spectrum of Autoheart’s music, yet played back to back within the set list- a fact that I noted “goes absolutely crazy” the night of the show. The entire band had a familiar feeling of the old eras of Panic at the Disco! with a more stripped back and indie-pop based sound. As someone who grew up around artists like Panic, this entire concert felt like a love letter to my childhood, a sort of coming home to music that has always captivated and comforted me through the crazy emotional times of my life. The sentiment seemed to be shared by the band as they confided with the audience, sharing personal stories about the significance of the various songs they performed and the importance of their first US tour being an entirely sold-out one.The passion was so tangible within the band as they interacted with fans throughout the set, giving hugs to those who gave friendship bracelets to the vocalist, sharing signs that were made for the band, displaying handmade merch like a painted denim jacket inspired by one of the song illustrations, and taking countless pictures on their beat-up iPhones of the crowd before them. Autoheart was able to make a big venue seem like an incredibly intimate one as they acknowledged every single corner of the Cornerstone, from those right in front of the stage to those of us who were watching from the balcony. 

Finishing off the night with four songs with their encore, Autoheart had the longest encore I’ve seen in a very long time– the last being Peach Pit’s three song encore with “Tommy’s Party” to finish it off. Their first single, “The Sailor Song,” was a tribute to all of the fans that have stuck with the band throughout their over ten year career— it was amazing to see a room light up with so much joy. “Beat the Love” followed, a synth-heavy piece that carried a kind of upbeat nature that you would expect to see in a Disney Channel original movie. For the last song  of the night, the band gave the crowd the option for either “Anniversary” or “Factories,” admitting that at their first leg of the tour in Seattle they had played both- a sentiment that the crowd in Berkeley cheered just as loudly for. While I basked in the presence of this amazing band for their last two songs of the set, I knew that Autoheart, a band that has stood the test of time and found a resurgence thanks to everyone’s maybe-soon-to-be-banned favorite app, TikTok, will definitely be on the rise. This tour, while it is their first in the United States, definitely won’t be their last if I have anything to say about it. Go grab your phones and add Autoheart to your following list on whatever music app you listen to because this band has something special to offer.

Article and Photos by Ashley Mauldin