Maggie Rogers and the Don’t Forget Me Tour: An Embarrassingly Emotional and Honest Review
In the hours leading up to a concert, one can expect to feel excitement. The erratic beating of your heart that can only be quelled by the screams of other adoring fans and the first notes of the first song on a setlist you’ve been waiting weeks, months, or even a year to hear live. Yet, in the hours leading up to the Maggie Rogers concert, all I could feel was dread. Embarrassingly enough, I had driven myself crazy over silly anxieties, which even led me to cry in the shower before getting ready.
However, in the wise words of Maggie Rogers, I “put on my red lipstick like a hero/ and swallowed the fear down my throat” and made my way to her Madison Square Garden show, her second sold-out show at the arena. A homecoming of sorts as she graduated from NYU with a degree in musical engineering and production and English. In fact, many fans, like myself, were introduced to Rogers through a viral video where she played her hit song “Alaska” for Pharrell Williams in one of her undergrad classes. As I arrived at the arena, the energy was incredibly relaxed. I was let in quickly, allowing myself time to shop for merchandise while listening to the dulcet tones of Rogers’ discography playing through the arena, welcoming eager fans, some of which had gone to the show the night before and realized that they immediately needed to see her again. I found my seat in the 200s section of Madison Square Garden easily and enjoyed overpriced chicken tenders and fries while I tried to swallow my anxiety.
Opening for Rogers was Ryan Beatty, someone I’ve been a fan of since 2019 during his collaborations with boyband/ rap-collective, Brockhampton. Beatty, who has recently been nominated for a Grammy due to his work on Cowboy Carter, has released three full length albums, but his set mostly comprised of songs from his most recent release, Calico. The album, only 33 minutes long, is incredibly tender and a record I can’t listen to without shedding some tears. Beatty opened his set with a personal favorite of mine, “Bruises Off the Peach,” an intimate reflection of himself and his relationship with his partner. This intimacy characterized his entire set, performing wearing headphones while sitting on a tree trunk in the middle of Midtown.
Later in his set, Beatty sprinkled in a cover of Sade’s song “The Sweetest Gift” and played one of the songs that defined my 2020, “Casino,” off of his sophomore record Dreaming of David. Beatty closed out his set with “Little Faith,” which is also the last track on Calico. I’ve listened to this song more times than I can count, but hearing it live was transformative. It was the perfect closing to his set, leaving concert-goers with the message of “have a little faith,” which was something we all needed. Overall, Beatty managed to make Madison Square Garden feel cozy and personal, no matter if you were on the floor or all the way up in the 200s section like I was. The lack of dancing and screaming fans was replaced by breathlessness and captivation, something I had never experienced at MSG.
In the 20 minutes between Beatty and Rogers, my friend polished off my chicken tenders while I allowed my negative anxiety to turn into positive excitement. We had only gotten these tickets off the resale market a few weeks before, an impulsive decision because I had decided that I could not miss out on another Maggie Rogers show. In years past, I had enjoyed her records from the sidelines, but the release of her third studio album, Don’t Forget Me, struck a chord. Rogers wrote the album over five days and it is a reflection of her life as she turned 30.
The album embodies the growing pains of womanhood and adulthood with Rogers’ reflective lyrics, and it instantly became one of my favorite albums of 2024, maybe of all time. Finally, as the lights dimmed in MSG, the first notes of “That’s Where I Am” began to play. While the floor began to dance, there seemed to be some confusion in the higher sections on whether to stand and dance or stay seated. However, this confusion quickly vanished when Rogers and her band began to play “Drunk,” one of the more upbeat and fast-paced tracks on Don’t Forget Me. As Rogers sashayed down the catwalk, it was clear that this first half of her set was all about dancing and screaming along to the songs that had become my anthems in the last couple of months.
Some highlights of the first half of Rogers’ set have to be the Kiss Cam during “Love You for a Long Time.” The song exudes pure joy, and the cheers that rang throughout the arena with every single kiss shared by any featured couple were infectious. Rogers also played a slowed and stripped-down rendition of “Say It,” one of the more popular tracks of her first record, Heard it In a Past Life. She channeled an R&B and soul tone, which perfectly encapsulates the lyrics of developing a crush and falling in love with the possibilities. Rogers closed out this half of her set with “If Now Was Then,” which is one of her best songs, in my opinion. In a pop-rock ballad that channels some Y2K influences, Rogers expresses deep regret over a past relationship. It was at this moment in the show that I began to feel the familiar bubble of anxiety rising throughout my body, but instead of letting it ruin the experience of listening to one of my favorite songs, I began to cry. It was a cathartic cry, expelling all of this negative energy I was harboring and letting myself feel the energy of Madison Square Garden and Rogers’ performance.
In the second half, Rogers slows it down. Before performing “I Still Do” on the B-stage piano, Rogers takes a moment to chronologize all of the shows she’s played in New York City, starting in 2012 at Sullivan Hall to Madison Square Garden in 2024, further cementing these two sold-out nights as a homecoming and the product of hard work and perseverance. In this second half of the show, some highlights include the minutes-long standing ovation given before Rogers and her band played “All the Same” and a folk-rock version of “Alaska” that captivated the audience. I personally can never listen to “Alaska” the same because the recorded version simply does not compare to the live version. I continued to be a blubbering mess throughout the rest of the show, especially during “Anywhere With You,” my favorite track off of Surrender. A sweet rock ballad about being vulnerable with your partner, but I like to associate it with my best friends because there is no one else I’d rather lose my mind with or make my mark with.
Rogers ended her set with “Light On,” a song she wrote for her fans. Rogers herself said the song was about gratitude, fear, but also the light fans gave her when she couldn’t find it herself. As confetti filled the arena, I couldn’t help but feel like this was a perfect closing for her final show at Madison Square Garden, a testament to her power of connection.
For the encore, Rogers played “Don’t Forget Me,” the title track of her most recent record. As Rogers began to play, she suddenly stopped and asked her band to stop with her. There was a collective feeling of puzzlement throughout the audience, but Rogers announced that she simply wanted “one more second” before she played her last song at Madison Square Garden. Naturally, the arena erupted into cheers as she asked for the house lights to come back so she could “see this one more time.” In an interview with Rolling Stone, Rogers says that “Don’t Forget Me” reflects her feelings about wanting her “time on earth to add up to something. For it all to be worth it in the end.” For me, the artistry and talent that Rogers has shared with the world has been worth it. Music, especially live music, is so incredibly powerful and important, and to feel seen and connected through art is such a gift.
Overall, Maggie Rogers is an absolute gem in the music world. Her music moves you, plain and simple. While I cried for most of the show, the opportunity to experience that live was everything and more.
