Macayla Cook | 12 May, 2025
As soon as I heard Magdalena Bay’s sophomore album Imaginal Disk, I knew I wanted to hear it live. Released at the end of summer 2024, the album captured all of the excitement of their first LP, Mercurial World, just with more polish. One thing that I adore in music is when weird people do cool stuff, and I think Magdalena Bay is a fantastic example of that. The group consists of lead singer Mica Tenenbaum and guitarist Matthew Lewin, who have known each other since high school and are together, if I remember correctly. Either way, I hope these two continue to produce their weird little songs together for a long time.
The show was in Franklin Music Hall, which is a place I had never been before. As an experienced concertgoer who grew up right outside of Philadelphia, I thought I knew the venues in the city by now, but turns out I was wrong, and Franklin Music Hall is actually a really cute place. It’s general admission, with a massive floor and an upper level boasting a bar. It’s sort of like if the Theatre of Living Arts and The Fillmore had a baby, and as a girl in her early 20s who still appreciates the art of a general admission concert, I was definitely digging the venue.
This was also the first time that I was going to a press pass concert alone. I’ve written reviews of shows before, but always as the reviewer of a duo where someone else took the photos. This time, the only pass was for me, meaning I stood down in that pit and figured out how to use a camera in real time as opener Sam Austins performed.
I would say how the opener was, but in all honesty, I was more focused on trying to figure out the right exposure to be shooting with (I did not figure it out). He seemed energetic. His vest was stylish. I hope he had fun.
Following Sam Austins, the press was ushered to line up against a wall, single file, so that the crew could move around freely while we waited for the headliners. In that time, I made friends with a few other photographers, who were kind enough to teach me how to zoom! Score!
Before I knew it, it was time. The stage lights spun, all pointing to a short woman with dark bangs wearing a blue two-piece set. I remember admiring her ability to pull off parachute pants as she greeted the audience with an identical, soft “hello” to the one the album opener, “She Looked Like Me!” begins with.
The first couple of songs were a complete blur. Mica Tenenbaum is gorgeous up close and a great performer to watch, as girly is simply having the time of her life. She proceeded to skip, twirl, and pose around the stage, and we down in the press junket ate it up. Her voice also sounds exactly like that in real life, meaning her vocals live have the same pouty, dreamy quality as they do on the studio versions of their songs.
At the end of “Image,” the photographers were ushered out of the pit, where a few of us took up residency on a landing of the staircase leading to the balcony. I was a lot more relaxed from there on out, having completed what I deemed to be the hard part of my job (getting usable photos of the band despite having no photography experience). I could do the rest of this; I know music and I know it quite well.
Magdalena Bay are deeply engaging performers. They’re clearly having a ton of fun on stage, and Tenenbaum is a very dynamic lead singer. The show followed the same plot as their high-concept album, all about transformation and the idea of someone’s true form. There were a few slight diversions, as the set was interspersed with a few favorites from other releases, but for the most part, the show was Imaginal Disk.
One of my favorite moments of the show actually came during one of these diversions, when the band was playing “Chaeri” off their first album. Tenenbaum instructed the audience to repeat the bridge, consisting of the simple lines, “three, four, down to the floor/lose control/little more.” As thousands of people continued their chant, Tenenbaum came in with her own lines, working her way up from a whisper to a screaming crescendo. Later on, a friend of mine who was also at the show would say this moment felt to her like a ritual, and I kind of agree, but in a fun way. I could get down with a ritual at the Magdalena Bay show.
The show was wildly entertaining, even for some of the other photographers, who were a lot less familiar with the album than I was. Tenenbaum went through multiple costume changes and props over the course of the performance, switching out her blue set for a red one about halfway through the show before donning a leotard and sheer flowy skirt for the encore. At one point, she performed a full song wearing a sunflower hat. She also wore a bunny mask for a couple of minutes, spent a couple of songs twirling around in a cape, and became the titular character for “Angel on a Satellite” by fitting herself with a pair of feathery wings.
I can appreciate a good costume change, and this diva knocked it out of the park.
Overall, I would absolutely recommend checking out Magdalena Bay’s music and going to see them if you have the chance. Their brand of high-concept indie synth pop is so fun to listen to and even more fun to see live, as they clearly put a ton of thought and effort into their performances. Like I said before, Magdalena Bay is an amazing example of weird people doing cool stuff, and I think we as a society could stand to have a lot more weird, cool art.
