Magdalena Bay recently arrived in Glasgow for their long awaited Imaginal Mystery tour. Matt Lewin and Mica Tenenbaum, were touring for their recent album, Imaginal Disk, which came out in 2024 and did not disappoint.
Support act Allie X set the concert off to a good start, with an alternative pop setlist and a slightly eerie vibe reinforced by her arriving on stage with a veil covering her face. While she did play a few of her better known songs such as ‘Bitch’, her indie pop songs reinforced the take that one does not need to know an artist or their songs to dance (or sway) along. This is something that I also found in Magdalena Bay themselves — if the music is fun, flowy and upbeat enough, it is easy to enjoy and be involved with, even if you don’t know the songs.
Starting with a perfect introduction song with the first from their most recent album, ‘She looked like me,’ they then sandwiched old and new songs in groups. As someone who went into this concert less aware of their older music, this set up worked well and was clearly well thought out. The setlist was not the only feature where effort was clearly put in; this was an incredibly immersive show, which could only be a result of time and consideration.
Throughout the set, there was a focus on visual effects, through the unique set, screens, and props used. With an interesting set, including a homely, living room set-up and multiple screens embedded into the design, one of which being in the form of a portal. Along with the factor of being embedded within the set, the screens were utilised by showing some very eye-catching, attention-grabbing graphics. One example of this screen usage was throughout the song ‘Top Dog’, in the middle of the show, where countless cartoon dogs were featured. As well as innovative use of backdrop to create a scene, props were used like telephones, and often in the form of masks. These masks allowed for creating narratives throughout songs and also allowed the duo to interact with the set and each other. A monstrous theme was developed in how instruments were masked into the stage design, being moulded into the set such as through a large eyeball in front of Lewin’s keyboard station, and used by Tenenbaum at various points of the show being incorporated into a branch.
Costume was well utilised throughout the show, with outfit changes galore for Tenenbaum. Starting in a blue set, before moving to a red version of the same, coming out in this red set along with a large mask halfway through ‘Feeling Diskinserted’. Costume was further used in line with the setlist and mood of the show, with Tenenbaum donning a white/light blue angelic look for ‘Angel on a Satellite,’ and the last segment of the show.
Continuing to demonstrate the careful consideration put into the show, Magdalena Bay came out for their encore, to play two more songs including ‘Second Sleep’– one of my favourites from their recent run of double singles, collectively forming a box set called ‘Nice Day’. Finally, they finished with ‘The Beginning,’ the perfect final song, which received a great reception from the crowd.
“Magdalena Bay 09-24-24” by Hillymonster is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.