Mac Demarco @ Hackney Empire
Mac DeMarco began his show by informing the crowd that his set was “weird,” “titillating, and “long”; this proved true over an enjoyable evening!
In a bittersweet night in Hackney Empire, DeMarco closed out his month-long world tour in support of his newest record, Five Easy Hot Dogs. This show also finished out his three night residency at Hackney Empire, a beautiful and historic venue. This listed venue was built over 100 years ago in an opulent Edwardian style which set a very formal atmosphere for such a casual & intimate performance by DeMarco.
This show, like all the others on the tour, started with a full play-through of the new, instrumental album. The second half of his show gave spotlight to all of his classics. In the first half, DeMarco and his backing band, consisting of Alec Meen, Daryl Johns and JD Beck, brought the crowd along on a dreamy road trip across North America, aka the trip DeMarco took to compose the instrumental album Five Easy Hot Dogs. Mentioning the melancholy and oddness of the night, he and the band seemed to pour emotion, love, and care into their final performance of this work, alluding it will likely not be revisited live.
DeMarco had a hot dog tree on stage, which he mentioned was inspired by a dream. Beck cut down a glizzy for each song/stop in our journey and eventually threw them into the audience, making a unique souvenir for some. Demarco’s infectious personality shined through in jokes about his journey between songs. He adopted accents, characters, or just mused about the different locations in which he wrote this album.
Some of the challenges of transporting a room full of British hipsters to the deep forests of the Rockies were apparent in these skits with references to sugar shacks, Kelowna, and a Letterkenny-esque accent. All of these references were Canadian and flew over the heads of the audience like the aforementioned hotdogs. Highlights from this segment included Demarco’s own favourite off the album “Chicago 2”, a rollicking little track that highlights his abilities to create a vibe. Also notable was “Gualala”, the which he opened with, setting the mood for the first half of the night.
After the last hotdog had fallen, DeMarco started off the second half of the set with “Salad Days” which was met with the crowd's roaring approval. The audience, which had been gently swaying during the Five Easy Hot Dogs play-through, launched into the song, singing every word reverently back to DeMarco.
He continued to perform old hits to the delight of the crowd while still covering many songs from more recent releases, such as tracks off of One Wayne G, an album of 199 demos. There were particularly great performances of “For The First Time”, “20200816” or “She Want The Sandwich”. Finally, he finished up this colossus of a set with a four-song encore.
DeMarco’s set covered a large span of his discography; his stage presence and music left me impressed. His tour has wrapped up for the moment, but I will leave you with the recommendation of listening to Five Easy Hot Dogs.
