Maggie Rogers Concert Review: An Exhilarating, Inspiring, Roller Coaster of Emotion

Maggie Rogers has contagious energy.

During the second of three shows at the Roadrunner kicking off her tour in support of her new album “Surrender” on Feb. 10, the Maryland native singer-songwriter squatted down low, bouncing on her heels, beckoning the audience to follow her lead. “Don't be too cool,” she said.

Rogers sang the last song written for 2018’s “Heard It in a Past Life,” “Light On,” building up to a crescendo as she slowly rose with the volume. Soon everyone was jumping. Following her lead, the audience stayed dancing for the rest of the song.

Rogers' show was an emotional rollercoaster for her and her audience. It was feral joy, rage, humility, despair, and infinite awe of Rogers and her incredible ability to be constantly captivating.

It's hard to describe Rogers' style, or fit her into any one genre. Her songs are peppy like pop, but her performance style seems more spontaneous. Her rhythms border on R&B, but when she picks up the acoustic guitar, there's a country twinge in her voice. Some of her songs are love ballads, in some of them she preaches, and in others, her band rocks out as she sways side to side.

Beginning with fan favorite “Alaska” — a song about self healing after a toxic breakup — performed a cappella, Rogers was later joined in by light percussion and echoing keyboard sounds that resembled water dripping. “cut my hair so I can rock back and forth without thinking of you,” she sang. She moved her head side to side, rotating her hips back and forth to the beat. Her guitarist, sporting a Harvard baseball cap, danced with her in the center during a dance break.

In “Want Want,” Rogers danced with wild abandon, letting the forward-hitting beat carry her around the stage as she powerfully sang into the mic. But the energy didn’t cease when she traded her wild movements for an acoustic guitar.

During the lighthearted love song “Love You For A Long Time,” videos of clouds floated behind Rogers as she strummed the guitar. “I feel it in my body / know it in my mind / I'm gonna love you for a long time,” she sang.

The most stirring part of Rogers' set was a song she sang with the opener, Samuel Holden Jaffe, professionally known as Del Water Gap. Rogers and Jaffe were in a band together during their time at New York University when they wrote “New Song,” an indie folk song about young heartbreak that they now play on tours together.

On stage, they switched off verses, Rogers on the banjo, Jaffe on guitar. The blending of Rogers' voice with the banjo was astonishing. Despite the overlap, their voices were distinct — while he bounced back and forth, she rocked side to side. “I don't mind it,” they sang together.The song ended softly, with a strum of the banjo and Maggie's sorrowful voice on the last note.

Several times in between songs, she looked out at the audience with pure joy on her face and brought her hand up to her heart. Rogers gave the impression that there was nowhere else she would rather be. Her optimism, emotion, and confidence was infectious. She spun around the stage, sauntered back and forth in her sparkly dress and matching gogo boots.

“I cannot imagine a more perfect place in the world to start this tour,” she said.

Even so, the joy didn’t stop Rogers from completely diving into the emotions of each song she performed. During “Shatter,” an angry, high energy ballad, Rogers marched across the stage, singing high and loud, performing intuitively and moving fluidly. The performance was so emotional that she paused afterwards to calm down.

“I’m going to play the next song in 30 seconds, I’m just so fucking mad from playing the last song,” she said.

—Staff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @asherjmont.