Mac DeMarco, The Institute, Birmingham review • DIY Magazine

The 1000-capacity Institute steadily fills to the sounds of Danish producer and singer Anders Rhedin – better known as Dinner. He first shocks, then impresses with his dream-infused dance music. “Are you ready for Dinner?” he asks. Dancing around the stage with clothes draped over his head and getting the room to place their hands over their heart, he performs with a sense of fantastical feeling.

Entertaining though his set is, it’s his Captured Tracks labelmate the audience are hammering to hear. To stomps of expectation and chants of his name, Mac DeMarco and band finally take to the stage for their first Birmingham performance. As the opening chords of ‘The Way You’d Love Her’ resound around the room, the balcony rises to its feet and the crowd clamours to get closer to the stage.

While material from his first album is by and large ignored, Mac and band respond to the audience’s enthusiasm and power through a set filled with fan-favourites, from ‘Salad Days’ and ‘No Other Heart’ to ‘I’ve Been Waiting For Her’ and ‘Chamber Of Reflection’. Drinking, dancing, clambering on shoulders, and crowdsurfing, the momentum in the crowd barely seems to slow for even a moment.

Taking his regular stagedive, everything then turns to chaos. He vanishes among a sea of limbs, bodies are lost in the crush, the music is stopped, and confusion fills the outer edges of the room. When Mac finally emerges, he’s dishevelled and a little disgruntled. Addressing the audience on their etiquette of taking care of each other, he powers through a final sing-a-long chorus.

Disorder may have momentarily taken hold, but with an audience lost in their own enjoyment, skirting along the edge of anarchy, Mac DeMarco does what he’s best at: putting on a show that provides the perfect way to let loose.