Review: Mac DeMarco at O2 Academy Brixton

It’s extremely rare for an artist to inspire an entire aesthetic and take over a genre, yet in the 2010s, Mac DeMarco had every millennial trying to be him. With his lo-fi, home-recorded approach and slacker style, DeMarco felt replicable enough for every uni student with knowledge of the pentatonic scale to irritate their flatmates and raid their local vintage store for flannel and baseball caps. While deceptively simple, Mac’s style is inimitable beyond the surface level – blending jazzy major chords with woozy textures for a sound that feels like Masayoshi Takanaka dreaming of Elliott Smith.

Despite his origins as a hipster favourite, DeMarco’s mainstream success only ramped up in the 2020s: breaking out of indie’s upper echelon, now ever-present on social media with ‘oh I know him’ status among pop fans. The late-night city pop of ‘Chamber Of Reflection’ even got the TikTok treatment, much like peer Tame Impala’s recent virality, racking up over a billion streams. Despite this new level of fame meaning he could easily sell out the O2, his feet remain firmly on the ground, telling The Independent, “The music industry always wants you to play the bigger rock box, but the bigger rock box, I found, sucks”. Mac DeMarco arrives at the second night of his O2 Academy Brixton residency, still doing things his own way.

After a warm-up from the similarly laidback Otto Benson, DeMarco takes to the no-frills stage setup; erupting an eager audience with a simple ‘thank you for being here’, he seemingly skips straight to the encore: introducing his band of Alec (keys), Phil (drums), Pedro (electric guitar) and Daryl (bass) before a note has been played. 

From bedroom pop opener ‘Shining’ to the surprisingly early aired favourite ‘For The First Time’, DeMarco flails around stage like he’s unsure what to do without his guitar, but still intent on not letting his lovelorn lyrics bring the mood down. In the middle of stomping around the stage doing his best t rex impression, Mac finally seems liberated from his instrument, as the breezy wobble of ‘Salad Days’ earns raptures despite its blunt reality check lyrics.

“We’re gonna try some songs we haven’t tried… this one is about sandwiches” as the goofy rarity ‘20200816 She Want The Sandwich’ makes a rare appearance. This improvisational feel to his sets justifies the three-night residency, with enough variation around core anchoring tracks to reward repeat attendance, while also balancing Mac’s inherent sense of playfulness with his heart-on-sleeve lyrics. Not even two tracks after singing about a ‘sandwich’, the lovingly lo-fi ‘20191009 I Like Her’ walks a tonal tightrope of tenderness to even more singalongs from a harmonic crowd. 

Despite this commitment to not taking things too seriously, his lyrics are remarkably reflective and anxious; “my heart still beats for you/even if you don’t feel it” from ‘Still Beating’ shows a gentle side to someone who had to write an apology song to his family after drunken karaoke. However, the sombre mood never seems to stick: the bedroom pop psychedelia of ‘Passing Out Pieces’ jolts a swaying crowd back into place. This process continues with several acoustic tracks from ‘Guitar’ woven into a lengthy set that darts across a rich back catalogue, with ‘Home’ aired before ‘No Other Heart’ in a sort of ‘one from the new record, and one for you’ approach.

While the slower moments get a chance to shine between more bombastic tracks, DeMarco takes it upon himself to entertain the crowd between tracks: even attempting a handstand after the entire crowd starts singing along to ‘Another One’, refusing to linger in emotion for too long.

Throughout, the camaraderie between Mac and his band is remarkable; despite a notorious revolving-door approach, there seems to be an immense amount of love among them – the kind that can only be formed in his cramped camper van. This synergy is clearest in the seemingly never-ending, infectiously syncopated riff of ‘Freaking Out The Neighbourhood’, allowing each member of his band to shine as they play the outro three times, faster and faster each run-through; even the VIPs on the balcony are leaning a little too far over the railing. 

With the obligatory rabidness out of the way, the main set’s closing duo of the trippy opus ‘Moonlight On The River’ – complete with a drum solo from Phil – segues perfectly into ‘Chamber of Reflection’, stretching into an elongated synth-driven conclusion that proves what we already know: Mac DeMarco is the most unlikely of stars. Across his sprawling setlist peppered with promo for his latest release ‘Guitar’ and now classic tracks, DeMarco creates a sense of wedding band intimacy in the room; joking about Yorkshire tea and hitting handstands like the unhinged uncle at a family function.

While in lesser hands the jump from goofy stage banter to heartbreak to physical comedy may prove too much, tonight Mac DeMarco shows why he’s only gotten bigger and bigger: his likeability makes any room feel like an early show.

Photo Credit: @marvellousgigphotos

Words: Keir Shields