diff --git a/roomserver/internal/query/query.go b/roomserver/internal/query/query.go
index 70a84a9c5..b5f8d65ff 100644
--- a/roomserver/internal/query/query.go
+++ b/roomserver/internal/query/query.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"time"
 
 	"github.com/matrix-org/gomatrixserverlib"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/util"
@@ -240,17 +239,42 @@ func (r *Queryer) QueryMembershipAtEvent(
 		return fmt.Errorf("unable to get state before event: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	start := time.Now()
+	// If we only have one or less state entries, we can short circuit the below
+	// loop and avoid hitting the database
+	allStateEventNIDs := make(map[types.EventNID]types.StateEntry)
 	for _, eventID := range request.EventIDs {
+		stateEntry := stateEntries[eventID]
+		for _, s := range stateEntry {
+			allStateEventNIDs[s.EventNID] = s
+		}
+	}
+
+	var canShortCircuit bool
+	if len(allStateEventNIDs) <= 1 {
+		canShortCircuit = true
+	}
+
+	var memberships []types.Event
+	for i, eventID := range request.EventIDs {
 		stateEntry, ok := stateEntries[eventID]
 		if !ok {
 			response.Memberships[eventID] = []*gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent{}
 			continue
 		}
-		memberships, err := helpers.GetMembershipsAtState(ctx, r.DB, stateEntry, false)
+
+		// If we can short circuit, e.g. we only have 0 or 1 membership events, we only get the memberships
+		// once. If we have more than one membership event, we need to get the state for each state entry.
+		if canShortCircuit {
+			if i == 0 {
+				memberships, err = helpers.GetMembershipsAtState(ctx, r.DB, stateEntry, false)
+			}
+		} else {
+			memberships, err = helpers.GetMembershipsAtState(ctx, r.DB, stateEntry, false)
+		}
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("unable to get memberships at state: %w", err)
 		}
+
 		res := make([]*gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent, 0, len(memberships))
 
 		for i := range memberships {
@@ -261,7 +285,6 @@ func (r *Queryer) QueryMembershipAtEvent(
 		}
 		response.Memberships[eventID] = res
 	}
-	logrus.Debugf("XXX: GetMembershipsAtState duration: %s", time.Since(start))
 
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/roomserver/state/state.go b/roomserver/state/state.go
index f6ee2e437..83e048325 100644
--- a/roomserver/state/state.go
+++ b/roomserver/state/state.go
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/matrix-org/util"
 	"github.com/opentracing/opentracing-go"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
-	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/roomserver/types"
 )
@@ -132,13 +131,11 @@ func (v *StateResolution) LoadMembershipAtEvent(
 	span, ctx := opentracing.StartSpanFromContext(ctx, "StateResolution.LoadMembershipAtEvent")
 	defer span.Finish()
 
-	// De-dupe snapshotNIDs
-	start := time.Now()
+	// Get a mapping from snapshotNID -> eventIDs
 	snapshotNIDMap, err := v.db.BulkSelectSnapshotsFromEventIDs(ctx, eventIDs)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	logrus.Debugf("XXX: duration to lookup snapshot nids: %s", time.Since(start))
 
 	snapshotNIDs := make([]types.StateSnapshotNID, 0, len(snapshotNIDMap))
 	for nid := range snapshotNIDMap {
@@ -155,7 +152,6 @@ func (v *StateResolution) LoadMembershipAtEvent(
 		wantStateBlocks = append(wantStateBlocks, x.StateBlockNIDs...)
 	}
 
-	start = time.Now()
 	stateEntryLists, err := v.db.StateEntriesForTuples(ctx, uniqueStateBlockNIDs(wantStateBlocks), []types.StateKeyTuple{
 		{
 			EventTypeNID:     types.MRoomMemberNID,
@@ -165,13 +161,11 @@ func (v *StateResolution) LoadMembershipAtEvent(
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	logrus.Debugf("XXX: duration to lookup StateEntriesForTuples: %s", time.Since(start))
 
 	stateBlockNIDsMap := stateBlockNIDListMap(stateBlockNIDLists)
 	stateEntriesMap := stateEntryListMap(stateEntryLists)
 
 	result := make(map[string][]types.StateEntry)
-	start = time.Now()
 	for _, stateBlockNIDList := range stateBlockNIDLists {
 		stateBlockNIDs, ok := stateBlockNIDsMap.lookup(stateBlockNIDList.StateSnapshotNID)
 		if !ok {
@@ -195,7 +189,6 @@ func (v *StateResolution) LoadMembershipAtEvent(
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	logrus.Debugf("XXX: duration to generate list: %s", time.Since(start))
 
 	return result, nil
 }