Maggie Rose rocked the house last week at Nashville’s 3rd & Lindsley for a Toys for Tots benefit concert. The performance showcased Rose’s incredible range and command of the stage, proving that her most popular singles, “Better” and “Girl in Your Truck Song,” only scratch the surface of her brilliance as an artist.
After opening with the infamous “Girl in Your Truck Song,” Rose dialed up the energy in the room up about 100 fold with “Elevator,” an uptempo party anthem with a killer electric guitar solo. By the middle of the song, the bar area nearly cleared out, as everyone made their way up to the stage area completely enthralled by the force of her performance. Props certainly are due to Rose’s band for their work in cultivating the upbeat atmosphere. In particular, her drummer/band leader, Sarah Tomek, delivered such an on-point, high energy performance that numerous concert-goers went out of their way to commend her after the show.
The duration of Rose’s 16-song set kept the audience captivated by cruising along an engaging emotional trajectory. She naturally sailed from empowering songs that showcased her grit, to more melodic ones that displayed her vocal precision. One such song that fell into the latter category was “When You Drink Tonight,” a tune about struggling to move on from a relationship. Rose jokingly told the audience that she wanted to sell the song to Uber, because the hook goes,“Who’s going to drive you home/when you drink tonight.”
Rose also provided entertainment by taking advantage of the intimate setting to interact with some characters in the crowd. She poked fun at a guy standing center stage sporting a cat shirt, and also acknowledged several audience members who were decked out in Christmas-themed attire in honor of the Toys for Tots aspect of the show.
To honor the holiday season, herself, Rose awed with covers of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” and Elvis’s “Blue Christmas.” Her mastery of these two songs, each standing on the complete opposite ends of the Christmas song spectrum, provide further evidence of Rose’s vocal versatility.
One can only hope that the energy and dynamism that Rose delivered at 3rd and Lindsley come across on her next album. As the performance demonstrated, Maggie Rose is much more than a girl who’s content with riding around in some guy’s four wheel drive.
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