Live Review

Mac DeMarco, Forum, London

25th November 2014

One thing is abundantly clear: people are fucking crazy about Mac DeMarco.

Words: Tom Walters
Photos: Carolina Faruolo
26th November 2014

There’s something incredibly ironic about Mac DeMarco playing The Forum tonight. For someone who started out making music in his bedroom and forever encompassing do-it-yourself values, you’re almost taken aback by the fact he’s surrounded by VIP pews and high-rise chandeliers. Is he taking the piss? Is he a hypocrite? Does he even want to be here? Everyone seems out of place, from the beanie-toting youngsters to the odd suit to the barrier security who might as well give up while they’re ahead. As Mac wanders on stage to help set things up though, the uproarious screams of the crowd generate an ecstatic electricity, and suddenly one thing is abundantly clear: people are fucking crazy about Mac DeMarco.

“Hello, thanks for coming out tonight” he politely grins as he kickstarts the evening with ‘Salad Days’. By the time he’s blasted through to ‘Cooking Up Something Good’, it’s impossible to ignore the power he holds here tonight. The scale is quite ridiculous: around 2,000 people yelling along to every word; cementing Mac the poster boy for a whole new generation of music fans. The eruption that follows with ‘Passing Out Pieces’, well... if detractors thought Mac was playing it safe with his latest record then right now he’s proving they're entirely wrong. A supposed slacker? Not if these sea of voices have anything to say about it. He might have recently become the face of American Apparel, but there’s no denying his talent as a musician and entertainer as he rips through these songs. This is a performance from a man who should be gracing covers of magazines, or hosting barmy YouTube shows.

It wouldn’t be a Mac show without juvenile shenanigans of course. Just after ‘Blue Boy’ is done and dusted, he introduces his supposed uncle at a table on the corner of the stage reserved for Mac’s friends and family who’ve come along tonight, and they stay seated there for the entirety of the performance, for reasons that are only clear in the DeMarcos’ oddball world. For Mac’s standards though, the stage banter is overall weak tonight, and there’s a feeling that something’s missing by the time he mumbles through ‘Ode to Viceroy’. People are crowdsurfing and going nuts at every opportune moment, the singalongs are starting to swamp him out - it all seems to be getting a bit much for a Tuesday night.

Before he can even get to ‘Freaking Out the Neighbourhood’, things get totally ludicrous. Mac pulls a stranger up on stage for a rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘Jammin’’, and has people waving their fingers in every which way as they both drive the nails in the song. There’s definitely a feeling of insanity in the room at this point: like the kids who have been running around on e-numbers for the past forty five minutes are now totally worn out but have to stay up a little bit longer. Ending on an encore of the Top Gun theme song and a cover of Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’, it’s obvious that Mac is destined for bigger things - but a ostensibly odd atmosphere at the Forum hindered greatness tonight.

Photos: Carolina Faruolo

Tags: Mac Demarco, Reviews, Live Reviews