Your new favorite pop-folk artist Maggie Rogers played the most stand-out set at a sold-out Observatory North Park.
Maggie Rogers
Maryland-native Maggie Rogers has only released a handful of EP’s, and yet she took the stage as a fully formed artist at the Observatory. In 2016, while attending a master class with Pharrell Williams at New York University, Rogers took roughly 15 minutes to write a track that would go on to be the viral hit, “Alaska.” A video of a moved Williams took off, and so did Rogers’ career. Rogers, humbled, spoke of this during her performance, noting how grateful she was to have had this career land in her lap and for her lack of “paying her dues.”
While on tour so soon following her initial success, Rogers also spoke of feeling alone, but then so alive on stage. Rogers transformed from her soft-spoken self while addressing the crowd to something divine while singing. Powerful and moving, Rogers captivated the crowd in a way that is rare and beautiful. Referencing the current state of the world, Roger’s performed a pointed rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by Paul McCartney.
In a move becoming more and more popular among artists, her first song of the encore portion was her, alone, a cappella, and was absolutely stunning. The room stood silent and captivated, one of just a few moments that they weren’t dancing along with Rogers.
The energy left behind after the set was so electric that nearly half the audience stayed behind to just dance along to ABBA playing through the speakers.
Few shows have been as wonderful as Maggie Roger’s and I couldn’t recommend her more. You can also catch her on the most recent Saturday Night Live as the guest musician, a performance which caught the attention and hearts of artists such as John Mayer, Brandi Carlile, and Questlove. This girl is only going to get bigger and we can’t wait to see where her career takes her next.