Maggie Rogers plays 6-year-old's request, stops concert for ailing fan at Milwaukee's Riverside Theater

Maggie Rogers had to do right by Charlie.

Toward the end of her hour-and-50-minute set at a capacity Riverside Theater Sunday, Rogers confessed to the crowd that she got word that a 6-year-old fan named Charlie was disappointed not to hear one of their favorite songs, "Burning," at Rogers' Chicago show the other night.

It turned out that Charlie and her mom had made the trek up I-94 Sunday night, and Rogers was eager to make it up to her.

"It's so nice to meet you, Charlie, I'm so glad you could make it," Rogers told the girl after spotting her in the front row of the balcony. "This one is for you."

And from there, the kick drum ushered in an incendiary performance of "Burning," the elated crowd sharing in the girl's joy as she bounced in her mother's arms, beaming a massive smile, the pair caught on the tour cameras and appearing on the big screen behind the band to some of the loudest applause of the evening. It was all sealed with Rogers blowing the girl a kiss.

And it was just one example of the 28-year-old singer-songwriter's attentiveness Sunday. Another was related to something more serious.

Following a radiant a cappella intro to her breakthrough hit "Alaska," Rogers and her six-piece band were heading toward the chorus when she stopped the music suddenly, noticing a fan on the floor gesturing. Rogers quietly but assuredly called on the venue staff to help.

The room grew silent as medical personnel came to their aid with a stretcher in less than two minutes. Rogers' response was masterful — not only in noticing the health scare and immediately responding, but by remaining a calm presence on stage throughout the six concerning minutes that the fan was being looked over, gently encouraging others around them to clear the aisles and thanking them for their patience.

"Everyone take a deep breath, everything's going to be OK," Rogers said at one point, putting the nervous room a little more at ease. The fan was alert and talking as they were taken out of the venue for further evaluation, other fans clapping that they were OK. Rogers, clearly relieved, waited another couple of minutes once everything was clear to resume the show.

That kind of consideration shouldn't surprise anyone who's followed Rogers' work. Who can forget her remarkable introduction to the world in 2016 as an NYU music student, sitting next to Pharrell Williams, who teared up listening to "Alaska" while sitting in for one of her classes. The video went viral, launching Rogers' pop career.

But the reason one of music's most accomplished songwriters and producers was so touched was the deep humanity in every facet of Rogers' song, from the cathartic lyrical epiphanies to the shimmering, gently stunning production to the vulnerability in her falsetto.

Rogers repeatedly brought that thoughtfulness to two subsequent albums, which in turn have made her into a genuine pop star; she played for a capacity crowd Sunday. And Sunday's show did have some fun, big pop-show trappings.

Following a dramatic video introduction in which Rogers, via voiceover, stressed the importance of "breaking the numbness" and sharing her truth, that video wall was put to grand effect, with camera operators broadcasting Rogers' performance, literally larger than life, for set opener "Overdrive." Rogers later made the video work even more vibrant during "That's Where I Am," belting to the camera, glowing in a backlit spotlight, a theater packed with cheering people behind her providing a striking visual.

She also had a sharp six-piece band that was given space to flex, from the double percussion grooves on "Shatter," to Rogers on acoustic guitar triggering playful musical responses from her keyboardist, guitarists and bassist during the bridge for "Love You for a Long Time."

And there was little evidence of the humble college kid from that viral video in Rogers' frequent dance moves Sunday, particularly during "Symphony," her head snaps, hip twists and shoulder pops gradually slowing as the instrumentation dialed back the tempo. Seemingly enduring some sort of in-ear issue during "Want Want," Rogers ripped it out, the device bouncing as she jumped around the stage, hitting those demanding high notes perfectly. And for the slinky R&B stylings of "Say It," Rogers managed to toss the handheld mic from her right hand to her left mid-chorus without diluting a single vocal note.

No doubt everyone at Sunday's show was watching a pop star. But through her songwriting and her personality, Rogers remained grounded — the reason people latched onto her songs in the first place.

Rogers gave her audience songs like "I've Got a Friend" Sunday, an unapologetically earnest and sweet ode to female friendship. And for the finale, she offered "Different Kind of World," a song she wrote in the summer of 2020 "as a prayer and a bit of hope for the future," she explained Sunday.

Initially, Rogers performed the song alone on acoustic guitar. The band swelled up behind her at the halfway point, only to remove themselves from the stage entirely for the finish. The intimacy of the words, the audience's connection to Rogers' softly soaring voice, had the biggest impact of all.

"The whole time I was making this record, the only thing I was picturing over and over again is what it would be to get to play it live," Rogers said before playing "Different Kind of World," in reference to her sophomore album "Surrender" released last year. "It has surpassed all the expectation of what it would be to be together again."

For Charlie, her mom and about 2,000 fans Sunday, the feeling was mutual.

Three takeaways from Maggie Rogers' Milwaukee show

• Beyond the song request for her 6-year-old superfan, Rogers took time to give a fan in the front row named Austin a shout-out, praising their bedazzled cowboy hat that they learned on TikTok took over 10 hours to make. Another fan in the front also gave Rogers a pink cowboy hat, which she wore for "Light On," taking a moment after the song to shake the fan's hand and offer thanks for the gift.

• If you didn't know anything about the Riverside Theater Sunday, Rogers was ready to drop some facts, sharing that she learned that it opened in 1928, and offering sincere gratitude to join the long list of performances on that stage.

• Maggie Rogers’ old band was her opening act Sunday. When she was an NYU music student, she played for about six months in the group Del Water Gap; the group ultimately became a solo project for its frontman, Samuel Holden Jaffe. Aside from his own slick 45-minute opening set (with three touring musicians), Jaffe was on stage in spirit for Rogers’ “Want Want” and “Anywhere With You” (he has writing and producing credits for both tracks), and on stage in person with Rogers for their sublime 6-minute, slow-burning folk duet “New Song.”

Maggie Rogers' Riverside Theater setlist

1. "Overdrive"

2. "Want Want"

3. "Say It"

4. "Honey"

5. "Love You for a Long Time"

6. "Shatter"

7. "Begging for Rain"

8. "Be Cool"

9. "Symphony"

10. "I've Got a Friend"

11. "New Song"

12. "Horses"

13. "Alaska"

14. "Burning"

15. "Anywhere With You"

16. "Light On"

17. "That's Where I Am"

18. "Fallingwater"

19. "Different Kind of World"

Correction: This story has been revised to include "Say It" in the setlist.

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Maggie Rogers makes 6-year-old fan's night at Milwaukee concert