Photo: Michael Jamison
On the last night of his London promo week, Mac DeMarco treated fans to a rare solo show at intimate Nambucca in London.
The immediately sold out show drew the unofficial King of Dunagrees’ die hard fans, with excited chatter of waiting 5 years to see him and questions of his girlfriends attendance engulfing the queue of Converse and blue denim which formed outside the venue 2 hours early. Stepping on stage he highlighted a slight nuance of change from other gigs with his signature wry humour and wonky grin; ‘As you can see…. No band.’
With classic ‘Salad Days’ scattered between new songs and more from the back catalogue, it was not only the stripped back music that held the audience to attention but his character. What was lacking in bandmates was present in intimacy and captivating one-man showmanship.
Ever the people pleaser, he played a largely request based set with charmingly quirky audience interaction and performing in similar measure. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, song requests were coupled with personal questions which were answered with no hesitation. ‘[My girlfriend] has been a fan since 2008’, he added before inviting her on stage. If, like you might have assumed from the amount of cheering this received, the audience had been there to see her they wouldn’t have been disappointed at her ability to down the remaining tequilla DeMarco had been unapologetically sipping throughout.
His aforementioned wry grin was coupled with some quite frankly creepy eyebrow raises and cheeky glances in the crowd during ‘Without Me’ when he momentarily substituted his guitar accompaniment for the crowds synchronised clapping, and they subsequently formed his chorus when performing ‘Annie’. When ‘Viceroy’ was suggested he pointed intently; ‘That’s my cowboy right there’.
Having had one of his tracks leak the week before, he told the room he was sad he couldn’t share more new material, much to their disappointment. A melancholy and somewhat fitting lyric followed; ‘I never meant to go and sing my tunes for anybody out there but you’.
Mac stated he hadn’t been so drunk on stage in a long time, which might explain the weird and wonderful questions directed at the crowd. Once they’d correctly guessed he’d had a salt beef bagel for lunch and voted on which member of The Beatle’s probably has the biggest genitalia he picked a girl from the crowd to dedicate ‘Blue Boy’ to before the real finale of the night. He crowd surfed out of sight to the crowd singing ‘Together’. A special glimpse into what his shows might have been like pre selling out concert venues, the night was no less than you’d expect for this loveable rogue.
