Last week the indie pop girls swept Philadelphia, and I went with my girlfriend to see Maisie Peters on Tuesday the 10th and Chappell Roan on Saturday the 13th. They both played the same venue, The Fillmore, where I have seen many shows and always enjoy them. It felt like I was having deja vu when I returned to the same venue a mere few days later to do it all over again with a different performer.

Maisie Peters is a student of Taylor Swift’s style of confessional songwriting, detailing her love-related woes and mishaps with candor and catchy choruses. Philadelphia was the penultimate stop on The Good Witch Comes to North America, her tour for her second album, The Good Witch. The song “The Band and I” name drops Philly, and Peters said she had been waiting for this stop for the whole tour, which of course invited deafening screams and a particularly loud sing-along. Peters enjoyed engaging the audience in bits, asking for someone to give her a truly shocking red flag they’ve encountered in their dating life before launching into the cynical “Run.” Philadelphia’s contribution was a woman volunteering that her ex-boyfriend messaged her on Pinterest to ask her not to get a restraining order against him — which Peters repeated exaggeratedly to those in the back as, “Please, please, please don’t get a restraining order.”

I enjoyed Peters’s performance and her rapport with the audience. This was my second time seeing her; the first time had been at Webster Hall in New York City on her last tour in spring 2022. My girlfriend and I both agreed that while we had a good time, it wasn’t one of the best shows we had ever seen. My main complaint is that Peters’s set list skipped over songs that I hold as my personal gospel (i.e., the entire Trying soundtrack, which Peters often forgets about) in favor of songs written for TikTok like “Not Another Rockstar” and “Blonde,” which certainly get the audience pumped but aren’t my particular favorites.

The next concert in my regimen was Chappell Roan, whose Midwest Princess tour, celebrating her debut album, I saw on Saturday. Roan’s was one of those rare shows that feels electric. The energy of the crowd was warm and enthusiastic — my girlfriend, who is much more outgoing than I am, made friends with several of the people around us — and we got there early enough to be super-close to the stage. Roan assigns each tour date a theme relating to a song in her discography, and Philadelphia’s was “pink cowgirl,” based on her first single, “Pink Pony Club.” The crowd was a sea of pink cowboy hats and glitter, the majority of concert-goers taking advantage of an opportunity to play dress-up.

Instead of having a traditional opener, Roan invites a few local drag queens to perform at each tour stop. We enjoyed impressively energetic performances from Philadelphia queens Pi, Jade Ferrari and Majestee, who had the audience roaring with laughter and cheers. Roan declared her show a safe space for people to show up exactly as they are and enjoy community, fun and acceptance. The self-expression and freedom of everyone in the crowd was evident, and it was such a joyful space to be a part of what felt truly transformative. My girlfriend and I both danced and jumped and sang the whole night.

Roan’s show was one I know I will be remembering fondly for a while. She is a wildly talented performer and a true artist, and I am sure that I saw her only at the very beginning of her stardom. I look forward to seeing her success continue to grow. It was certainly a busy week in my concert itinerary, but the lack of sleep was well worth it. I’m so glad I got to see two talented performers whose music and artistry I admire so much in such a short period of time.

— Hannah Gruen, administrative coordinator