Concert Review Mac DeMarco - Auckland - 8th January 2020
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Mac DeMarco | Photo Megan Moss
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL MAC DEMARCO GALLERY BY MEGAN MOSS HERE
By Jake Ebdale
Artist: Mac De Marco
Date: Wednesday 8th January 2020
Venue: Auckland Town Hall, Auckland
“Here comes the cowboy... Here comes the cowboy... Here comes the cowboy... Here comes the cowboy...” That’s how Mac DeMarco’s latest album, Here Comes the Cowboy, begins. The title track is unassuming, repetitive, stark, a bit shitty, spread thick over drony, twangy guitar – this ain’t no Chet Atkins – and all with a knowing wink. It may appear that he’s wasting the listener’s time, but it’s nothing of the sort. Mac Daddy has actually, under the radar, crafted his most sonically pleasing album, with some simply amazing tunes – ‘Nobody’ being this reviewer’s tune of 2019 – and some reflective lyrics that miraculously never sound cheeeezy.
I for one am very excited to see him perform in support of this stellar record. Others weren’t too enthused – some calling it lazy and ‘frustrating – but, nah, fuck that. It’s a VIBE man. I’ve gone into this review knowing his concerts are, too, a vibe of a different kind, representing a decent chunk of his recorded output since 2012 with the set list not changing much. Admittedly, I am a late bloomer to DeMarco, but what a time to join the (rock and roll night) club. Opening with This Old Dog favourite On the Level (as he did at Laneway 2018), the energy stuck. He followed with Salad Days and then Nobody, which loses some of its dry recorded charm live but makes up for it in pure indie communion. Though his first two albums, 2 and Salad Days, feature starry-eyed, crowd-pleasing classics like Ode to Viceroy, My Kind of Woman and Chamber of Reflection, it’s the material off the last two records that the band really nail, like slowing down Still Beating to near Harvest Moon tempos or testing the crowd’s patience with Little Dogs March. The inane Choo Choo has turned into a Sly Stone-esque romp, complete with Maccy doing his crab walk. I missed the Cowboy highlight Preoccupied, on the set – definitely another standout tune on that record which deserves an airing. I’ll tell you this – Mac’s band has really gelled lately. Yes, the guitarist sounded like he was learning Enter Sandman as he went, which was jammed into the perennial Still Together encore, and Joe the drummer looked super jetlagged, but with the help of the other band members, namely Alec the keyboardist, they make for a formidable indie outfit.
DeMarco is a loveable oaf, still wearing saggy thrift store hats and slacks, old kicks and flashing that Cheshire Cat smile, but he can also play guitar very capably. He gets his T-Rex creep on, chucks the mic from hand to hand and just relates to his audience well. His voice is sort of like a warm arm around you, like a best bud at New Year’s.
It also seems as if this tour marks a new phase in DeMarco’s career, with a view of swapping out slacker musicianship for, well, actual musicianship. Cowboy points to that, and I hope he evolves from the prince of indie into, well, Prince. Or at least Paul McCartney circa Ram. He is more than capable of that.
So, anyway, the gig was bloody special, a bit ramshackle, but altogether brilliant with DeMarco in good enough form. The band clearly had fun falsing the coda to Freaking Out the Neighbourhood. As bassist Jon Lent mentioned, while DeMarco donned a sparkly pink cowboy hat gifted from a punter, ‘It turns out there’s a new sheriff in town.’ March on, lil doggy.CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL MAC DEMARCO GALLERY BY MEGAN MOSS HERE