Mac DeMarco Back and Unforgettable

Mac DeMarco. Metropolis Photo Michael Eidelson.

Mac DeMarco has played plenty of shows in our lively city of Montréal throughout the years. He’s on tour for his latest album This Old Dog which was released a week prior to his performance at Métropolis on Wednesday May 10th. Fans of the jangle pop artist pushed themselves as close to the front of the stage as possible filling every square foot of the venue to its fullest capacity. Mac has built a substantial repertoire for himself in Montréal along with a dedicated fan base that always show their love for the young artist every time he swings by the city. The enthusiastic young slacker has been known for putting on unforgettable performances and his time spent at Metropolis last week was no exception.

The title track from his 2015 record “Salad Days” kicked off the night. The audience members that had positioned themselves in front of the stage were going ballistic at the sight of the indie rocker. He took the time to introduce himself and his band members, later telling everyone how he’s known people in the city for years and how much he loves coming here. Sparing no time shortly after chatting with the audience, he played the self-titled track off This Old Dog which got everyone excited. The band then played “A Wolf Who Wears Sheep’s Clothes” which is another cut off the new album and kept the momentum of the cheerful vibes going. The rooms energy only excelled further as soon as he stroked the first few chords to “Cooking Up Something Good” off of his debut album. The entire audience became one giant wave and swayed from side to side of the venue as Mac fed off the energy of the crowd.

Throughout the night audience members kept climbing up on stage and welcomed the band first hand face to face. Some people knew that their presence on stage should only be kept to a minimum, while others were clearly too drunk to even notice they were on stage in the first place. During the track “Chamber of Reflection” a woman climbed up and tried to score a selfie with him. He immediately refused to be a part of her photo as soon as she whipped out her phone. Instead of jumping back into the audience the girl decided to stay for an uncomfortable amount of time until the song was nearly finished. It’s cool that Mac is so relaxed with letting people up on stage, he kept his cool the whole show and was rather inviting to all guests who came up.

People were constantly throwing gifts at Mac during the show, mainly packs of cigarettes as if the acclaimed smoker didn’t have any ready for himself after the show. Ironically enough “Ode to Viceroy” had the venue singing every word of the song without skipping a beat. The amount of enthusiasm that was portrayed through his stage presence was inspiring. There’s a charm to his personality that feels nothing but genuine and humbling while all being encompassed in an animated fashion onstage. The night ended with the slow tender track “Still Together”. Seeing Mac perform anywhere would’ve been a worthy show to attend, but the experience felt so much grander in the city with which his music was fully recognized and praised since day one of his career.