From the second I found out Maggie Rogers’ Chicago date was upgraded from The Vic to The Riviera Theatre, I knew there was something special around this show. A couple songs in, and the magnitude of this event became clearer when Maggie herself stood center stage and excitedly addressed the roaring crowd, saying “This is the biggest show of my life.”
I had only seen Maggie perform once before, at a show in a significantly smaller venue down in Austin, TX thanks to intimate options afforded by SXSW, so I wasn’t completely unaware of what the live set would be like but what I witnessed surpassed all expectations. Her magnetism moved me. The connection she had with the crowd was astounding, and it was really cool to look in peoples’s faces when she performed tracks like “Dog Years,” “The Knife,” “Light On,” “On + Off,” & “Alaska.”
Speaking in between performances was pretty memorable too. She shared an anecdote on her journey thus far, saying: “I never made less music than when it became my job to make music… it was scary when it didn’t come naturally. But then I’d hit the stage and it was great to feel grounded… Two years ago I played to 250 ppl, and now it’s 2500 of you. I don’t know what to do. Thank you for your presence.”
Or like her mini speech “Back In My Body,” when she spoke to crowd and “I think concerts should be places of bipartisanship where we can all be together. But I also think government should help people feel safe” while encouraging fans to vote.
My favorite moment came during “Color Song.” Before performing, Maggie said stated “There’s something really powerful about getting loud with a bunch of people”and then she asked people to be silent, to wait a tad before getting loud…. The place went absolutely silent. It was amazing really, to make that kind of request and have fans oblige. In that pure silence you could hardly hear any noise in the background, allowing Maggie’s vocals to envelop the Riv. She even sang away from the mic, with no amplification and even then it sounded great. It was a real moment. Right after she was done I saw fans literally high-fiving each other and a couple others crying.
Check out our photos below.
Photo Credit: Oscar Oliva Jr / Pursuit Of Dopeness
