Maggie Rogers Captures Hearts Through the Screen

By: Tanasia Allen and Sammi DeLuca

Setlist: Give A Little, Burning, Say It, The Knife, Retrograde, Back In My Body, Overnight, Light On, Fallingwater

Introduction: Both Tanasia Allen and Sammi DeLuca attended the University Union sponsored Maggie Rogers virtual concert on February 21, 2021 and have generated their own individual commentary. 

Allen:

The live stream opens with Rogers and her band in a black box style performance space. She begins with the first song from her debut album, Heard It In A Past Life and transitions to “Burning”, an extremely danceable tune. We have the pleasure of watching Rogers jump around the stage while giving impressive vocals right off the bat. The setlist continues to ebb and flow as she brings us to “Say It” followed by “The Knife” all while showing how much performing with or without a live audience is a transcendent experience for her simply through how much fun she is having. 

Next is “Retrograde” which proves to be only the first of many showstoppers left in the setlist. The vocals are raw and enchanting throughout the performance and a great transition to the next half of the setlist. “Back In My Body” is a crowd pleaser that would get the entire audience singing along during in-person concerts. Rogers then breaks to take a sip out of a mug and tells us to stay sane in these crazy times. She then remarks how this next song is about how she did not stay sane. After the commentary she goes into “Overnight”. Rogers then delivers a tear jerking rendition of Light On and as if that wasn’t enough, the closer, “Fallingwater'' manages to top it. Rogers delivers an incredibly passionate performance that reaches for your heart through the virtual barrier. 

When Maggie Rogers performs, she gives you her most vulnerable moments on a platter with a smug “enjoy.” I can only imagine what an in-person Maggie Rogers concert is like. To be able to hum the bridge of “Fallingwater”, to shout “Let me wake you up!” during “Burning,” to feel her energy radiating into the farthest corners of the auditorium. If you weren’t already a fan of Maggie Rogers, the virtual performance should have been enough to convince you. 

It would be a mistake if it wasn’t mentioned that Rogers was amazed that our school mascot was an Orange and then proceeded to attempt to give the virtual audience a wet orange from the floor. All in all, Rogers managed to take viewers out of their bedrooms and onto the performance floor with her. My only request is that she puts out a live recording album. 

DeLuca:

Maggie Rogers is inarguably one of the coolest people of this generation. No matter what she wears, she looks, well, absolutely baller. For this particular performance she adorned an oversized U2 T- Shirt and cargo pants. She looked dope, but this outfit also allowed for maximum mobility so she could jump around the stage and bring the energy and passion that her music deserves to her performance. Her style choice also begs the questions, is Maggie Rogers a huge U2 fan? Is she totally wearing it ironically? Does she just like how it works? Did Maggie Rogers make U2 cool again? Either way, it is a certainty that after the show she was approached by some sort of music nerd and was given the challenge of all challenges… “Name 3 songs by the band on your shirt.”

Something quite notable about Maggie's performance, although nowhere near as important as her music is the length of her setlist. When performing for an online audience, the length of the show is something to be considered. There have been far too many online concerts during this pandemic that go so long, the performers make even their biggest fans antsy. Maggie made her show about as rockin as an online concert can possibly be, while not overdoing it. Her concert was about an hour long and Maggie filled it with the energy and passion of a live concert.  Rogers made the intelligent decision of keeping her incredible setlist  short and sweet.  

Every celebrity claims that they would be nowhere without their fans, well this show featured a special tribute to Maggie Rogers fans. Pictures and comments submitted by Syracuse students were projected on the screen for the whole audience to see. Fans submitted pictures of them watching the show and comments which ranged from messages to Maggie to shoutouts to other viewers to seemingly any thought that crossed their mind. As ridiculous as these photos and messages got, all eyes went to Maggie, because of her passion, energy, and most importantly her U2 shirt.