My first Maggie Rogers show in 2019 taught me what live music could be. The Hammerstein Ballroom audience electrified Rogers and then a transfer of energy took place, as Rogers’ spirited performance sent shock waves right back to the crowd. The show revealed my native New York City to me in textured technicolor—the traffic lights were more vibrant, and the lampposts somehow brighter. Then a high school sophomore, I vowed to join Rogers on her adventures across the city, venue to venue, wherever the road might lead.

On Oct. 19 and 20, 2024, this journey reached a fever pitch: two sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden. That the “Maggie Square Garden” affair also marked a homecoming for Rogers made the double-header even sweeter. Having graduated from NYU in 2016, the Maryland-born singer not only came of age in the city, but continues to return as she hones her craft–on Saturday, she even revealed that her latest track, “In the Living Room,” along with 2024’s Don’t Forget Me and half of 2022’s Surrender, was recorded nearby at Electric Lady Studios.

Although her career-spanning setlist has been stable across previous stops in Austin, Nashville, Philadelphia and Boston, both shows teemed with homages to the Big Apple. Rising from the B-stage in a cloud of fog, Rogers kicked off the evening with a glittering rendition of “That’s Where I Am.” The Surrender single was an especially apt opener, given the NYC-centric music video–made complete, as any New Yorker would agree, with an unexpected cameo from famed cyclist (and occasional performing artist) David Byrne.

The next ode to the city arrived with “So Sick of Dreaming.” Since Rogers usually changes the words to match each city’s basketball team, it was the first time on the Don’t Forget Me Tour that she performed the track in its original form, with fans screaming “And by the way, the Knicks lost!” at their home arena. Rogers then brought the guitar back out for an equally dreamy song and accompanying basketball-themed bit, pairing 2019’s “Love You For A Long Time” with a Kiss Cam interlude, giggling as the camera panned to unsuspecting couples in the audience.

While her display of star power on the vaunted stage makes it hard to imagine her anywhere else, Rogers never anticipated performing at the landmark venue. As the stage turned a deep purple for “Dog Years,” which refers to college graduation in the line “we will be alright in the afterlife,” Rogers called upon her NYU days, exemplifying just how far she’s come. “To wake up this morning in New York City and know that I was coming for the second night to Madison Square Garden is so much more beyond any dream I could ever dream,” she gushed.

Lighting fresh incense on the piano, Rogers listed all the NYC venues she’s played over the last twelve years. Smiling, she recalled pretending to be a fake agent to book her first show at Sullivan Hall in 2012, then playing Bowery Ballroom, the biggest venue imaginable, and finally, breaking even for the first time at Brooklyn Steel. “And I could only ever dream it because I got to dream it with you,” said Rogers, letting the chord linger in the orange light.

As her list moved towards my own landmarks, Hammerstein Ballroom, Radio City Music Hall, and Forest Hills, Rogers elaborated on the “unbelievable rainstorm” and “magic” of the latter show. Forecasted thunderstorms held off until the final note of “Different Kind of World,” when the sky opened–the perfect end to a divine evening. Like at Forest Hills, as the show neared its end, a new rain started to fall: torrents of white confetti for “Light On.” Spinning across the stage, Rogers looked out onto thousands of faces illuminated by phone flashlights, fulfilling the final request of the evening–to “leave the light on.”

When Rogers returned to the stage for Sunday’s encore, one final “Don’t Forget Me,” she brought the band to a halt, restarting the song halfway through the first verse, to savor the moment. Though the last chorus eventually came to a close, as did the monumental staging, a lone piece of “Light On” confetti blew over the pit, long after Rogers stepped offstage. The singular streamer, resisting finality, is a testament to the exact serendipity that makes a New York City Maggie show so special and colorful–and, as always, impossible to forget.