I do remember the first time I “seriously listened” to Mac DeMarco. Maybe walking back from the market buying that coffee they only sell there, possibly coming back from a uni course on a sunny day (because when I hear Mac I hear sun and blue skies and this mean that you can be depressed even with these elements constantly above you). The album was This Old Dog and the device was an Ipod Classic of 160 gb. The songs I would repeat the most was ‘My Old Man’ and think about my pops and his wounds from the Penepa war back in ’95. I would also think about you and how we were going to spend the day together cooking and sleeping, because even when we were unemployed you kept things going. I would also think about my brother wearing an oversized unofficial DeMarco T shirt and his generous smile (I cannot think of DeMarco without thinking about my brother and you).
Outside Aviva studios, a sold-out sign greeted me. I was still trying to shake off the sleep from a couple of minutes ago, my eyes were watery and my neck ready for the familiar pain a gig always brings. At 20:00 sharp, Tokyo based artist Tex Crick opened the gig with a repertoire from his last album and some new songs. Smooth and calm, his four person band offered a calm transition from the nap I had before the gig and the empty time that came until DeMarco showed up. Signed to DeMarco’s own Mac’s Record Label, Crick offered a confident set of tracks which may not have drawn all the attention at the beginning of the show but had all eyes on the band by the end of the set.
In an orange and blue light, De Marco and band came out playing ‘Shining’ greeting his second and final night in Manchester (throughout the night DeMarco will play around with different intonations of the name of the city, M-á-n-c-h-é-s-t-é-r). When he is not using his Danelectro, he will be doing (and asking us to join him) the YMCA signs, telling us an open-ended story about a girl whose name I don’t recall anymore. The warehouse is now fully busy and humid.
In a how the tables have turned, baby moment, most of the members of the audience lit their torches whilst DeMarco was hand standing. Even the fella next to me who was snorting industrial amounts of something stopped and sought quickly for his phone. During the performance, DeMarco will try to recall the last time he played in Manchester: “6 or 7 years ago, we’ll make sure we’ll come back sooner next time”. Our turn to light the stage ended and the lights came back to the band. He checks in with his band and checks in with us too: asking us to show him our spice, stopping the set after someone seems to have a health emergency… De Marco’s setlist included many songs from the new album, which he will introduce with love for them: “I really like this next song”. The logic of the set list is to include a new track followed by what is now considered a “classic”. It works, no time to look anywhere else, the audience is hooked. I was told that De Marco grew up, that he matured from an immature avocado to one without vices and “foolishness” in the stage. Apparently, I missed out this era of DeMarco. Outside, no sign of the moon, just some strips of sky; on the other side of the street somebody tries to fight me.
Mac DeMarco: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Tex Crick: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Review from Aviva Studios Manchester by Alejandro Burbano
Photography from Hammersmith Apollo, London by Ed McCay
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