Los Angeles pop duo Magdalena Bay are in the midst of their first-ever headlining tour, supporting their great 2021 debut LP, Mercurial World, and they stopped in NYC on Friday night (2/18) for a show at Elsewhere. Their last NYC show was in October at Elsewhere's intimate Zone One space, but this time they played the much larger Hall, which was totally sold out, and the duo (who are joined by a drummer for the tour) said was their biggest show yet. They played Mercurial World in full, from beginning to end, for the main set, and had the crowd in the palm of their hands from the opening notes of "The End," bouncing and singing along.
To go with their exuberant performance -- which included highlights like the blissful transition from "Dawning of the Season" to "Secrets (Your Fire)," Mica Tenenbaum running into the crowd during "Chaeri," and the irresistibly upbeat "The Beginning," which Mica crowd-surfed during -- Magdalena Bay have constructed an ongoing narrative about an artificial intelligence that speaks through the LCD panel behind them. Unfortunately we weren't able to see it to its end on Friday night when their projections stopped working, but the interludes we did see elevated seeing the album performed in full to an even more enjoyable experience.