Concert review: An unforgettable sold out night at “Maggie Square Garden”

Words & Photos by Katherine Cardinale

Maggie Rogers lit up all of Madison Square Garden (lovingly dubbed “Maggie Square Garden” by her fans) on October 19th for her first-ever sold-out headlining show at the world’s most famous arena. This concert, arguably the most highly anticipated night of Maggie’s The Don’t Forget Me Tour — Part II, was a culmination of Maggie’s artistic journey over the years and beautifully showcased her growth as a musician.

Alternative pop artist Ryan Beatty hit the stage first and played most of the songs off his latest album, Calico. Ryan has been releasing music for over twelve years and most recently co-wrote four songs on Beyoncé’s critically acclaimed album Cowboy Carter. His work explores themes such as change, love, and sexuality, and his emotional performance at Madison Square Garden captivated the whole crowd. He remained on the main stage for the entirety of his set, which featured minimal stage design and just one light that illuminated him and his band.

At exactly 8:35pm, the lights dimmed and Maggie’s intro began to play. After building up excitement for almost a minute and a half by playing a highlight reel of Maggie’s past and present eras, Maggie rose up onto the edge of the stage’s catwalk via lift wearing a glittering silver cape, black boots, and hoop earrings. The cheers and applause from the crowd were deafening. She sang the first few words to “That’s Where I Am,” the lead single off her sophomore album Surrender, before her band joined in with their instruments. Some of the highlights of a Maggie Rogers concert include her live vocals and dance moves, and this performance was no different. Songs like “Drunk,” “The Kill,” and “Want Want” encouraged a high energy response from the crowd and made the show feel like a giant dance party. Maggie then played a reimagined version of her song “Say It,” featured couples from the crowd on a Kiss Cam during “Love You For A Long Time,” and danced while performing “On & On & On.”

One of my favorite parts of Maggie’s set was when she sang her most recent single release, “In The Living Room.” This was followed by the fan-favorite “Dog Years,” a partial cover of Roberta Flack's “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” and seamless transition into another one of Maggie’s own songs, “If Now Was Then.” Each of these performances highlighted Maggie’s amazing stage presence, as well as the great chemistry she has with her band.

Maggie, who is known for her sonic versatility and authenticity, then segued into an acoustic section for the next part of her set. This part of the show featured some of the most emotional moments of the night for Maggie, who has been writing, recording, producing, and performing her own music since she was a teenager. During her speech, she spoke about her earliest memories of becoming a musician, including being a drummer in a rock band and booking her very first live shows. She paralleled her journey to booking this arena tour to that of reaching the final level in a video game and thanked fans for being part of her success story. She also shared a list of every venue she has played thus far in New York, and the audience cheered as she name dropped places they had seen her on past tours. Hearing Maggie share her unfiltered feelings about being an artist was refreshing, especially when we live in a world that oftentimes favors inauthenticity thanks to things like social media.

After finishing the catwalk set with a reworked version of one of her biggest hits to date, “Alaska,” Maggie played a few more fan favorites before closing out her main set with “Light On.” Midway through the song, white confetti fell from the arena’s ceiling, which was something that Maggie had mentioned being excited about via her email newsletter in the weeks leading up to this tour. After walking offstage and hearing the crowd excitedly chant her name, Maggie returned with her band and played an encore, which was the title track of her recent album Don’t Forget Me — a perfect way to end her first night headlining Madison Square Garden.

I was lucky enough to have seen Maggie perform back in April at her Don’t Forget Me box office release show in Boston, as well as on the TODAY Show in August, and both these shows and the one at Madison Square Garden firmly demonstrated her ability to successfully adapt her live performances to venues of all sizes. Maggie is a skilled musician both in and out of the studio, and anybody who is a fan of her music should get to experience the joy of seeing her live!