Monday, April 15th, Maggie Rogers arrived in Portland, OR to play a sold-out show at the McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, following her well-received Coachella debut. The show was one of the last on her spring tour, following the release of her debut studio album Heard It In A Past Life. Supporting her was guitar phenomenon, Melanie Faye.
Despite doors opening at 7:00, fans began lining up at 3:00 and speaking with them it was clear the impact Maggie's music has had. Multiple people had seen her perform the whole album before it was released and described it as an addictive experience; they were itching to experience it again.
Melanie Faye took the stage at 8:30 and garnered mixed reactions from the crowd, many of whom had unknowingly seen her before. In 2017 a video of Faye, sitting on her Nashville bedroom floor, beautifully shredding one of her original tunes, and wearing one of her signature UNIFF rainbow tops, went viral. This kickstarted the young guitarists' career and is something her and Rogers have in common. Rogers' career was kickstarted by a viral video of her showing her song Alaska to Pharrell, at an NYU master class.
Faye, who only has one officially released song, Eternally 12, navigated the stage well during her nine-song set. Her guitar skills were front and center, with only a handful of songs featuring vocals. People further from the stage seemed to be comfortable chatting, but closer towards the front people were captivated by her talent. During a quick song break Faye described how Guitar Hero had inspired her to begin playing guitar, catching many more fans attention, and by the end of the set the crowd was happily chanting her name.
Faye is currently working on her EP HomoPhone and will be touring with MacDemarco, who produced Eternally 12, through May 22. You can check out dates and locations for those shows here.
After Faye exited the stage, dance music, something Rogers has consistently cited as an inspiration since studying abroad in Paris, began to play through the house speakers softly. Finally, Rogers' bandmates entered onto the stage and began playing the opening loops featured in Give A Little, one of the singles from the recent release. Maggie emerged from backstage wearing a shimmery silver shirt, and after letting her hair loose midway through the first verse, had complete control of the audience.
Playing all 12 songs off of the album, as well as a few from her EP Now That The Light Is Fading, Rogers cast a spell on the crowd. Every ounce of energy that was given to the crowd was returned in a beautiful exchange of energy, as fans cheered their praises and unapologetically moved through the music with Rogers.
During, Alaska, Maggie brought out opener Melanie Faye, which added a new layer to the song as Faye placed her intricate harmonies and R&B influences onto the catchy song. Then, towards the end of the set, Maggie took time to recognize her friend, Olivia Bee, a Portland-based photographer responsible for Roger's album cover, countless other photos of the budding rockstar, and the director of the Light On music video.
Telling the story of the video, which was filmed in southern Oregon, Rogers described how the night the two had driven back to Portland they each tried to convince each other to go to a John Prine show, with neither following through on attending. The charming story, led to a cover of Prine's Angel from Montgomery, dedicated to none other than Olivia.
After leaving the stage following a cathartic performance of Falling Water, Rogers returned to the stage to sing an encore not usually found on the set list. As mentioned above Rogers studied abroad in Paris during college, and just that morning the Notre-Dame de Paris had caught on fire. Singing entirely A Cappella, Rogers ended with Color Song, something she felt fitting for the time.
On queue, Whitney Huston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody came through the house speakers and fans began to have a dance party. It has become a tradition at all of Rogers' shows and is a flowering example of the unifying power an artist can have.
Heard It In A Past Life centered around themes of redefining what Rogers' life became after the video of her and Pharrell went viral. In a live setting, it seemed the same songs that had helped Rogers process through the whirlwind of sudden change and feelings of having no control, were helping fans process through changes in their own lives. Rogers' ability to move her humble and honest energy through people is one of a kind and was beautiful to witness.
Rogers' spring tour just wrapped up, but you can view all of her upcoming dates here. Tickets are still available for her upcoming Australia dates, and her fall tour, which will cover the United States. She's also playing 12 different festivals this summer, so make sure to catch her while you can. I wouldn't be surprised if we see her playing much larger venues shortly!
If you're looking for new music or want to stay updated on shows coming through the Portland Area follow me on Instagram: @julianabigelow.
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