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Before her pre-recorded show, Maggie Rogers made sure to look up who the mascot of Syracuse University was. After finding out, she held up an orange in front of the camera during her performance, an offering to SU.

The Grammy-nominated artist performed to SU and SUNY-ESF students, faculty and staff on Sunday night, through a performance hosted by University Union. Performing some of her folk-pop hits like “Light On” and “Fallingwater,” Rogers kept electric energy throughout the entire performance.

Rogers burst onto the music scene in 2017 with her EP “Now That the Light Is Fading.” She released her newest collection, “Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016,” in 2020.

The New York University graduate, decked in a U2 T-shirt and painted pants, performed with a live band, sporting the new haircut she has displayed in her recent Instagram posts. To start the Sunday night performance, Rogers played her song “Give A Little,” which came out in 2019 on the album “Heard It In A Past Life.”

“What’s up Syracuse University? Thank you for letting us get back together and play. It feels really nice to be back together,” Rogers exclaimed after singing.

Her keyboardist and guitarist doubling as background singers, Rogers easily flowed in and out of the melodies. On the ends of “Back In My Body” and “Light On,” Rogers and her background singers effortlessly harmonized.

It was clear the lack of audience members did not get to Rogers, as she often fed off the energy of her drummer and guitarist. She moved and danced around the stage with ease, flipping her red hair and spinning while singing at the same time. And while there was a microphone stand for her to use, she acted as though it wasn’t there, only utilizing it for her performance of “Back In My Body.”

UU surrounded the performance screen with Ottos, different patterns and movements. Though the performance did not allow for a Q&A, students could live-tweet or post on Instagram and see their posts displayed on the performance screen.

Comments ranged from calling her drummer “sexy” to thanking Rogers for turning a fan’s living room into a live concert. One even asked for her to bring out Phoebe Bridgers, with whom Rogers recently released a cover of “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls.

“Hope that everybody is staying sane in this weird time. This song is about the opposite of that,” Rogers said with a shrug before performing her high-energy track, “Retrograde,” with blue lights illuminating the stage.

But after the astrological-related song, Rogers’ stage turned pitch-black before lights shined back onto Rogers for her emotional performance of “Back In My Body.” During the song, the lighting grew darker as Roger and her band played one of the softer-sounding tracks in the setlist.

Before performing “Light On,” Rogers sang a more electronic version of her track “Overnight.” The original recording of the song featured more classic sounding instruments, while during the performance her keyboardist utilized synth sounds to fill the backing track. Her performance of “Light On” was a near replication of the iconic track from the album.

“Alright this is our last song, stay safe everyone,” Rogers stated before her final performance of the 2018 hit “Fallingwater.” At the end of the song, the band stopped playing, letting Rogers display her vocal range and hit some high notes.

Rogers quietly ended “Fallingwater” as the screen faded to black.

Published on February 21, 2021 at 11:04 pm