Magdalena Bay have blown up in the past two years, credited mostly to the online success of single ‘Killshot,’ as well as the wave of praise that greeted 2024’s ‘Imaginal Disk’ upon its release. Even still, the duo’s influence isn't quite as far-reaching as you might expect, given how universally adored their latest work has been: it seems unthinkable that a group as well-known as this would play Nottingham’s Rock City rather than the more illustrious Motorpoint Arena. Still, such a venue was clearly no insult to Magdalena Bay, who’s boundless ambitions are always a sight to behold.

Allie X

Compared to the sensory overload the main act had in store for us, support act Allie X’s show was far more stripped-back: it was a one-woman show, after all, and one forced to dance around Magdalena Bay’s own setpieces. Indeed, the singer’s entrance was a prime case of tonal whiplash, slinking out in such an eery manner in front of the brightly-coloured backdrop. This brief opening set aimed to be intimate and personal, with all eyes on Hughes herself— her only staging consisted of an ominous white curtain behind her, becoming a canvas for the performer’s haunting shadow. Opening number ‘B*tch’ carried a distinct tone, with Allie X’s hushed vocal delivery and outright refusal to engage with the audience setting us up for a show far darker and more unsettling that we might’ve expected. That overwhelming sense of menace never quite left the set— still, it was a delight to see the performance come increasingly out of its shell as it progressed.

Hughes surely proved that she can belt out a high note across her ten songs, but tended not to: comparisons to Billie Eilish felt almost obvious, with the performer opting for intense whispers much of the time. Her mic could probably have been turned up to compensate, in all honesty, but the mix employed did wonders to place the emphasis on the house drum loops and thumping 808s that, over time, garnered themselves more and more of a response from the crowd. Allie X’s declaration that ‘I’m going to be your dark mother for the next thirty minutes’ marked a distinct turning point in the set, as after this, she seemed far more comfortable to move around and command the stage, often abandoning her keyboard in favour of dancing— cuts like ‘Super Duper Party People’ and ‘Is Anybody Out There?,’ dark as they could be, grew to become fairly infectious. It’s difficult to know which elements of the show were truly performed live, especially given how tightly on rails each track was: that hardly mattered to this performance though, which was carried in its entirety by the overwhelming charisma of its star.

Magdalena Bay

Anyone who’s listened to ‘Imaginal Disk’ will tell you that Mica Tenenbaum and Matt Lewin are nothing if not eccentric, and their latest tour is yet more proof of exactly that. The Rock City stage was stuffed with as much bizarre imagery as it could possibly contain, finding room to house multiple giant screens, a statue of a biblically-accurate angel and various odd rock formations in between the cluster of instruments about the stage. Magdalena Bay’s Nottingham show was quite the visual spectacle, not least thanks to the frenetic light show we were subjected to: the climaxes of cuts like ‘Image’ and ‘That’s My Floor’ were practically calling out for an epilepsy-warning, not even mentioning the use of those screens (which could best be described as the Teletubbies on acid). Throwing in rapid costume changes from Tenenbaum, who transitioned between an alien and an angel across the set, you could hardly argue the duo weren’t giving you anything to look at— if anything, the duo’s ambitions felt cramped at Rock City.

As you might’ve expected, it was Tenenbaum who drew every eye across the show: she was undoubtedly the star, so much so that the duo had a miniature staircase for her to stand on at the front of the stage. The performer was nothing short of electric, bouncing around with an enviable amount of energy even as she continued to sing her guts out across this lengthy set— her vocals were in top form on Wednesday night, adapting effortlessly to both the soothing melodies of ‘This Is The World (I Made It For You)’ and the more brazen ‘Cry For Me.’ She was also playing a keytar that looked to be almost as tall as her: seriously, what more could you ask for? The rest of the group seemed comfortable settling in behind her, never really aiming to steal the focus away from Tenenbaum. Matt Lewin is as much a contributor to Magdalena Bay as she is, but, as many multi-instrumentalists do, he seemed content to keep his head down and bob his way through this demanding setlist. Given that the man frequently hopped between keyboards, guitars and five-string bass, we can hardly blame him— the commitment to elevating every song in the live setting was truly admirable.

As far as the setlist was concerned, there was little room for complaint (though having said that, hit song ‘Killshot’ would probably have gone down extremely well in the encore). ‘Imaginal Disk’ was played in its entirety, and my goodness is it a different beast live. The wild progressive rock outro on ‘Tunnel Vision’ became so distorted and loud as to actually get you head-banging, aided by some of the most disorienting strobe light displays of the night: how the band could segue so easily into the funky bass groove of ‘Love Is Everywhere’ after that, we may never know. The entirety of Rock City was in Magdalena Bay’s hand from the first notes of ‘She Looked Like Me!,’ with everyone singing along to ‘Death & Romance’ and ‘Secrets (Your Fire)’ until they were drowned out by the bass (which could, admittedly, be a tad obnoxious at times). The group also rolled out four of their newest singles, with encore pick ‘Second Sleep’ earning a particularly enthusiastic response. Really, Magdalena Bay’s show just felt like a celebration, an excuse to dance, a joyous mixture of bright colours and big smiles. Not a soul could possibly have walked out feeling anything other than pure joy.