Maggie Rogers makes joyful return to the Armory
by Macie Rasmussen and Sara Fish
February 21, 2023
The last time Maggie Rogers visited Minneapolis was at the Armory in September of 2019. That night, she gracefully walked across the stage in silky, white bodysuit and cape to shower fans with her debut album Heard It In A Past Life. On Saturday night, Rogers returned with even higher energy for the Feral Joy Tour, coming off of 2022’s release, Surrender.
At the end of opener Del Water Gap’s set, frontman Samuel Holden Jaffe preached, “You're about to see the greatest show of your life.” But for those who frequent live music events, or didn’t have Rogers on their Spotify Wrapped, this might have felt just a tad excessive.
That’s not to say Rogers was unimpressive. Joy was ever-present in her voice. There’s something undoubtedly genuine about Rogers: her smile, her carefree dancing, the look of disbelief in her eyes. “This is the story of what happened when I finally let go,” she said in the pre-recorded monologue before stepping onstage. “I found peace in distortion.” The inexplicable sincerity of her voice was mysterious. Or, maybe the day-one, dedicated fans had a clear-cut understanding.
The professed “ferality” was missing. Rogers stayed within placid pop boundaries and put on a wholesome show for millennials and Gen-Z folks. The audience’s energy burst when the singer instructed people to “get low,” then jump when the chorus of “Light On” hit. Besides standard applause throughout the show, the level of crowd engagement didn’t seem to match the cathartic nature of Rogers’ recent work.
The evening’s highlights centered around the music on Surrender, including a percussionist commanding the bongo drums on the new-wavy “Shatter” as Rogers boldly sang, “I don't really care if it nearly kills me / Feel it in my fists like it's time to move.” The folk-y “Horses” created a sunset-in-the-countryside atmosphere, and Rogers’ vocals soared on “Honey” as she held the mic at arm’s length.
The singer showed herself kindness when needing to restart songs on multiple occasions. Shortly after dedicating "Love You For a Long Time” to the single people in the room, the band restarted because Rogers couldn’t hear her acoustic guitar; they started over a second time when she forgot how to play the song. As the saying goes, third time’s the charm.
Later in the set, she restarted "I've Got a Friend” after forgetting the lyrics. “The album has been out for seven or eight months. I should have figured this one out,” she joked. Fans cheered loudly, as if to say, “We still love you!” Rogers said she didn’t want to screw up the lyrics “Oh, I've got a friend who's been there through it all / Masturbates to Rob Pattinson, staring at the wall.”
She did remember all the words to the tracks from her debut record, which already seem like deeply nostalgic tributes to her past self. At only four years old, songs like “Retrograde” and the breakout hit “Alaska” made for sing-alongs about an era that feels like a lifetime ago.
During the encore, Rogers gave a closing monologue to reflect on the loneliness of Covid, saying, “The internet is a deep, dark black hole,” and shared gratitude for fans’ support of Surrender: “It’s a vulnerable thing to write down your deepest darkest secrets.”
Unfortunately, an audience member interrupted her speech. “Two seconds, just let me talk,” she requested. “Someone is yelling. I’m sure it’s nice. Let me talk… If more dudes listened, the world would be a better place.” She then kindly instructed the man to go listen to people tabling with Planned Parenthood and the voter registration organization, HeadCount, at the back of the venue.
Before the crowd summoned her back onstage for the encore, Rogers sang, “It all works out in the end” on Surrender’s lead single, “That’s Where I Am.” Her words about surrendering to the unknown summarized the night, which ended with the singer bowing to the crowd.
“No matter how scary the world gets, it’s nights like these — where we can be together — that give me hope.”
Opener Del Water Gap was once Rogers and Samuel Holden Jaffe’s band at New York University, but is now his solo project. The singer delivered jubilant pop-rock melodies that luckily overshadowed a self-assured edge. Skipping across the Armory’s stage, Jaffe sang insecure lyrics on “Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat,” repeating “I don't want anybody else touching you like I do” followed by “Tell me that nobody else touches you,” as if to equate possessiveness with love — a catchy bop nonetheless.
He covered Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated,” slowing the rhythm and adding a rumbling, echo-y drum beat. It would be hard to top the early-aughts punk-pop star, and Jaffe didn’t do so. Leaning backward with a foot on the speaker and eyes clenched shut, his sultry demeanor wasn’t fitting.
An amiable defining feature of his performance was high-endurance energy. The singer strutted across stage, kicked feet in the air, and stumbled to his knees as he sang, “I hope you understand what you are to me.” After Jaffe left the stage, a man in the crowd said the opener had “trendy Harry Styles mannerisms.” That’s an accurate description — without Styles’ smile, though.
Setlist
Overdrive
Want Want
Say It
Honey
Love You For A Long Time
Shatter
Begging for Rain
Be Cool
Symphony
I’ve Got a Friend
New Song (with Del Water Gap)
Alaska
Retrograde
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
Horses
Anywhere With You
Light On
That’s Where I Am
Encore
Falling Water
Different Kind of World