Grace Shaw (Mallrat)
West isn’t the only problematic man native to Chicago that Shaw has aligned herself with. Her name “Mallrat” was taken from a song by The Orwells, who disbanded in early September over sexual abuse and misconduct allegations.
Shaw had no idea about the allegations until the interviewer before me mentioned them, she said. “It’s sad … That’s so crazy. When I heard that song it was sick… but now it’s confusing… dumb men.”
I took a picture of Shaw next to the signs warning about rats in the area, and as she pulled out a Contax 2 film camera to capture the signs herself, I could already see her pulling fodder to define her name beyond its origins. She already has millions more Spotify listens than The Orwells anyway.
Flash forward to 7:30 and the Riviera is packed. After getting past people angrily figuring out what to do with their forbidden backpacks, I made my way down the venue’s side ramp to the floor level. The venue is notorious for becoming hard to see at past a saturation point, and the upper bar level is one of those areas. Note: My spot was ruined 5 minutes before Rogers took the stage as a couple, both over 6 feet tall, butted in front to the dismay of all the concert goers around me, all of which (myself included) were too meek to confront them. Mallrat and her DJ, Denim, got through most of her discography under the stage’s blue and red lights. Highlights included “Bunny Island” a song that channeled SOPHIE’s production in lyrics about “the valley,” which Shaw explained is where the clubs are in Brisbane. “I never plan to go there, but I always end up there.”
Mallrat and DJ Denim
The song also featured Shaw rapping in Japanese about an island she’s visited in the country. Her DJ left her stand to join her for a verse and some cute, jumpy choreography. This led into “Uninvited” whose repetition made for a pretty good call-and-response feature for an opening act.
After the break between acts, the lights went down and ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” blasted through the speakers. The audience knew who that moniker was beckoning…
Maggie Rogers spun onto the stage for the opening notes of power anthem “Give A Little” in a red and white coordinated pants and t-shirt set, hair in a bun (but not for long). Her dance moves were enthusiastic and coordinated while unrestrained and uncalculated — channeling her natural, down-to-earth but sparkly and dancey style.
She stopped, smiling, to let the crowd know that this was the largest show she’d ever played. She later compared the size of the crowd (over 2,500) to her show for 250 people in Chicago two years ago. She also told the audience that she was sick of waiting for her new album to come out (its release is set for January 18) and that she planned to play the whole thing that night.
She spoke to her year away from the spotlight after that viral video where Pharrell was moved to tears and sang her praises after hearing a demo of “Alaska” while she was studying at NYU. It was a nice parallel to recent box-office success A Star Is Born — what if Jackson Maine left Ally alone after bringing her onstage once and let her ride the wave of viral fame herself? Rogers said she never made less music than when she became a musician (post-viral fame), and spent the last year mostly alone to reflect and write.
You could tell Rogers was earnest when speaking about how much she loves performing live — her dance moves, smiles and early thanking of both her band and opener proved both her enthusiasm and gratitude. She also announced that this tour was cut short so she could fly to New York City for SNL this weekend. The crowd went wild. Everyone in that room felt like they followed her from a YouTube video to the biggest stage possible, and they were more excited than protective.
The crowd grooved along to the new tunes without hesitation. They clapped for her reminder to vote in the midterms. They sang along loudly to single “Fallingwater.” And they waited, patiently, for her to come back out for an encore of the song that started it all.
However, Rogers had other plans. “Sometimes at shows I get so much fizzy adrenaline that it’s nice to come down. And it’s nice when we come down together.” The crowd knew that this wasn’t an introduction for bubbly, pop track “Alaska,” and hesitation was felt throughout the crowd for the first time of the night.
“If you have to cough or sneeze, dot it! But if you have to yell something, maybe wait,” Rogers said. Her band remained offstage. This was just Rogers and her mic commanding over 2,500 people with outstanding acapella vocal chops on minimalistic track “Color Song.” Then it was Rogers without the mic commanding over 2,500 people with her outstanding vocal chops. It was truly the most impressive feat I’ve seen at a live show.
She carried on to cover “Angel from Montgomery” by John Prine and finally performed crowd-pleaser “Alaska.” She wore a cowboy hat thrown at her from the audience, took a bow in-tandem with her band and went off stage to “Dance With Somebody” as the crowd, carried on by their own adrenaline rush, crooned and grooved into the rainy Tuesday night.
Maggie Rogers - Photo by Colleen Dempsey