Highly anticipating Mac to come on stage, me and my friends stumbled into the Victoria Warehouse and finally got out of the rain. We were greeted a long haired support band playing DeMarco-esque songs. However, the audience weren’t too enthused about them, going off the failed attempt of the frontman trying to get everyone to sing along with his song. They seemed to strop off after that when the guitarist played a few chords, said something along the lines of ‘what’s the point’ and all disappeared.
Then the classic “great, the support act’s did their thing so where is the person I’ve came to see” thought popped into my head until another support act came on. The frontwoman of the band, all dressed in black, then robotically came on stage and placed a pumpkin in front of her. They played some light and cheery rock which was better than the first band so I wasn’t too disgruntled. After, they eventually went and robotically took their pumpkin with them.
Two support acts in and I’m really ready to see Mac DeMarco but then on waddle two tall blonde men dressed somewhere in between army sergeants, stereotypical goths and Kurt Cobain.
Three.
Support.
Acts.
Bearing in mind that at that point we’d been waiting for the better part of two hours and also bearing in mind that Mac DeMarco’s style is normally peaceful and slow, we didn’t feel quite so up for another band no one’s heard of. Especially a band that went on to play what seemed like 11 aggressive songs. It would have been irritating itself to sit through three support acts but how obnoxious and bizarre the duo and their music were really didn’t help. They played some sort of fusion between rap, rock, heavy metal and electronic music. I was initially up for their unique style but after being shouted at in a cockney accent to songs that all blended into each for so long, I gave up and was praying for it to end. But they eventually did leave after murmuring their band name and left the stage bare.
After 3 support acts and a bit of waiting in between, Mac DeMarco finally came on after nearly three hours of waiting. As soon as he got on stage, pungent wafts of not-so-legal substances fumigated the room as Mac started playing his hits. Once he got going, he and his band knew how to put on a good show and get the crowd going. He got the crowd to put their lighters and phone torches in the air for a couple of his more melancholy and slower songs and had a good line up of slower and livelier tunes. Throughout the show, Mac put on his typical goofball personality too, joking, wailing and dancing through the entire performance.
The show took an unusual but interesting turn near the end though. One of DeMarco’s band members and a random man who popped out from backstage turned the set into a mini hard rock concert with the likes of Rage Against the Machine and Nirvana songs being covered while Mac took a backseat (I ended up jumping around with someone who also happened to know all the words to Heart Shaped Box too). After that wrapped up, Mac did an encore of one of his more recent and emotional songs Watching Him Fade Away which nicely closed up the show.
Outside of not being able to see too often behind arms, phones and people on shoulders and being squashed next to people who were barely conscious, Mac put on a really good show and made it a fun, interactive experience. Although with Mac’s popularity, I’m fairly sure he can support himself pretty well.
