Mac DeMarco is special … really really special – he’s something of a cult phenomenon, a totally anachronistic character, who just entices you into his weird world. DeMarco acts as the poster boy of the whole ‘indie slacker’ scene, and through the apparel of the crowd this style is clear as denim jackets, worn caps, and flannel shirts are all in abundance. After briefly meeting Mac earlier in the evening at a special ‘Meet and Greet’ session, it clicked to me just why he’s loved so much; he’s funny, he’s down to earth, and he’s just got a vibe that makes you feel like you’re best friends even though you only just met.
First support of the evening was Elliot Vincent Jones who propelled through a short but sweet set of dance and ‘trippy’ style music, which grew more and more intense with each song. The final support act, Alex Cameron, played a more laid-back and chilled set, and reminded me of a combination of Alex Turner & Nick Cave, as he waltzed and grooved about the stage in a striking silver velvet suit. Once both the support acts had finished their sets, from the stalls downstairs to the top balcony everyone was going crazy for Mac and his band before they’d even come onstage, with those in the stalls falling on top of each other prior to his entrance – as the band hit the stage just after 9pm, there was unprecedented adoration as they launched straight into ‘The Way You’d Love Her’.
After the initial rowdiness of the crowd for the first few songs including ‘Salad Days’, ‘The Stars Keep On Calling My Name’, and ‘Cooking Up Something Good’, the crowd chilled out a bit for slower tracks like ‘Another One’, before once again going crazy for the ever-popular ‘Ode To Viceroy’ early in the set, by which point sweat was literally dripping from the ceiling as the masses of enthusiastic and wild fans sang back at Mac and his band and jumped around in sync. Despite rolling out hits from his albums ‘2’, ‘Salad Days’, and ‘Another One’ there wasn’t a single song played from his debut ‘Rock and Roll Night Club’, though instead the fans were greeted with a setlist regular cover of Steely Dan’s ‘Reeling In The Years’. As well as this, the heart wrenching ‘My Kind Of Woman’ made an appearance, prior to which the band switched the opening lyrics to a café version with ‘Oh, pastry / Oh, jam / You’re making me coffee’ replacing the original lyrics, also exercising the refreshing chemistry of Mac and his bandmates as they fired jokes at each other throughout the set.
As DeMarco edged towards the end of his set, a hazy rendition of ‘Chamber Of Reflection’ was met with ear-shattering cheers from an already riotous crowd as we all grooved along together as the evening came to a close. The final song of the evening, to no surprise, was ‘2’ album closer ‘Still Together’, which at the end saw Mac DeMarco scaling the walls and balcony of the KOKO before, albeit hesitantly, jumping off into the adoring, sweaty crowd below, followed by a lengthy crowdsurf as the young crowd scrambled just to touch the man.
While I’d seen Mac before at the Roundhouse, and thought of it as a spectacular gig, I was in no way prepared for how much more amazing his KOKO gig would be, and as he closed the set with a monstrous cover of Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’, I felt like I’d entered a different, and much cooler world of madness and fearlessness in the heart of Camden surrounded by 1,000 other people all unified for the love of one man, Mac DeMarco.
Words by Jasmin Robinson