Maggie Rogers at The Academy, Dublin on February 14th 2019

Maggie Rogers embarked on her world tour in Dublin last night with the first of two sold-out shows in The Academy. ABBA’s Dancing Queen gets the crowd in the mood before Rogers arrives on stage to perform songs from her newly minted major label debut ‘Heard It In A Past Life’.

“This is the first show I’ve played with my album in the world and it feels awesome,” she informs the crowd gleefully, after the opening kick of smash hit single Give A Little. Rogers is keen to gauge fan reaction to the newer material and is visibly blown away by the fact that people know the words to album tracks such as Overblown.

Rogers’ vocals are instantly impressive, as is her four-piece live band who offer slick accompaniment throughout. Unsurprising, all the same – this is how it should be for a graduate of one of the world’s premiere music programs at NYU. Rogers’ education insures that musically, everything is on-point at all times, but it is her personality that lends authenticity and to proceedings.

Songs such as Burning and Say It further showcase Rogers’ vocal prowess and her ability to pen karaoke ready pop songs.

More prominent live, Dog Years’s slinky percussion evokes The Jacksons at their finest. On + Off and the Pharrell-wowing signature track Alaska from the ‘Now That The Light’s Fading’ EP, further emphasise her innate ability to make simple melodies magical and induce the expected en masse sing along with ease.

The Knife sticks out, offering Maggie Rogers the chance to show the world her old-school R‘N’B vocal chops with verses built for Toni Braxton.

“If you wanna go home and cry or go home and fuck, this song works for both” she says, bringing a bit of Valentine’s tinged comedy to proceedings, before an unexpected stripped back cover of I Want To Dance With Somebody – a song which David Byrne also covered in The Ambassador some years back – commences the encore. The analogy is apt though as it describes activities that, dare we say it, Rogers’ own compositions are utilised for.

By the time Maggie Rogers’ world tour returns to Dublin – and no doubt it will – she’ll be playing The Olympia or the 3Arena. The hype is more than justified: Rogers is one of the most exciting prospects in the new wave of popstars.