Cigarette-smoking, 
long-haired youth 
love this Canadian

By CARLY SNIDER

Daily Arts Writer

I am standing. I am sweating. 

Surrounded 
by 
cigarette-

smoking, 
long-haired 
youth, 

the crowd sloshes around me 
closer and closer. The opening 
acts, The Courtneys and Alex 
Calder, 
prompt 
appreciative 

head bobbing and shivers of 
excitement 
throughout 
the 

audience. With each strum 
of the guitar or beat of the 
drum the crowd seems to inch 
forward, aiming for the closest 
possible point in space to the 
night’s main attraction — Mac 
DeMarco. As the lights finally 
dim and Mac makes his way 
onto the small stage, the energy 
of the crowd erupts. Hands, 
drinks and cheers are thrust 
into 
the 
air, 
unreservedly 

welcoming the goofy Canadian 
artist. He begins to play. I am 
standing, I am sweating and I 
am happy.

***

Mac DeMarco’s sound is 

jangly 
and 
unconventional 

and funny — just like his 
performance at The Crofoot in 
Pontiac, Mich. on Sunday night. 
Opening with “The Way You’d 
Love Her,” DeMarco had the 
crowd hooked from the first 
wavy vibration of his guitar. 
He touched on fan favorites 
like “Salad Days,” “Chamber of 
Reflection” and “Let Her Go” all 
while maintaining an off-the-
cuff performance style. True to 
form, DeMarco would scream, 
use funny voices and improvise 
with his band throughout the 
set. The band members found 
themselves in various states of 

Mac Demarco is our 
holy lord and savior

composition during the 17-song 
performance. Members of The 
Courtneys and Alex Calder 
backed DeMarco on different 
instruments; a few even flung 
themselves, 
per 
DeMarco’s 

nudging instruction, into the 
outstretched 
hands 
of 
the 

crowd to surf over the fans for 
an entire song.

DeMarco also stepped out of 

his generally swirling realm of 
musicality, covering “Reelin’ 
In The Years” by Steely Dan 
and 
“Enter 
Sandman” 
by 

Metallica. The latter, which 
constituted 
the 
encore, 

spanned ten-plus minutes and 
consisted of absolute insanity. 
“Enter Sandman” in and of 
itself is intense — heavily 
bass and percussion driven 
instrumentation 
coated 
in 

angry vocals. By this point 
in the show DeMarco, some 
of his bandmates and many 
members of the crowd were 
shirtless, sweaty visions of 
the people they were pre-gig. 

DeMarco was drinking on stage 
and screaming to the music. 
A new crowd-surfing fan was 
popping up every minute or 
so. There was a quasi-mosh pit 
going strong and band members 
were eagerly playing off of each 
other.

Fans may have initially been 

drawn in by DeMarco’s laid-
back jangle sound, but what 
really makes him a great artist 
is his sense of self. As proven on 
Sunday night, DeMarco knows 
exactly who he is and what his 
art means to himself and to 
others. On the surface level, 
his performance was relaxed 
and 
spontaneous 
and 
fun. 

But in looking a little closer, 
it is clear that DeMarco lives 
and breathes his profession, 
that his performances are an 
extension of himself rather 
than a meticulously calculated 
production. He was on fire. The 
peak of his inferno occurred 
when he threw himself into the 
audience and crowd surfed his 

way to the edge of the crowd, 
climbed a support pole to the 
upper balcony and shuffled 
along the railing to meet the 
fans on the upper level. He then 
cheekily motioned to the mass 
below then jumped back into 
their waiting hands and hitched 
a ride to the stage.

DeMarco 
and 
his 
band’s 

performance was one of the 
most authentic and welcoming 
shows I have ever experienced. 
He never made the audience 
feel inferior, like he was the 
almighty artist and we were the 
unworthy fans. He was a young 
person hanging out with his 
friends and making music — a 
sentiment most youth can relate 
to in some shape or form. He did 
not concern himself with his 
procured image as an artist or 
his perfection in performance. 
He was a real person. And from 
what I saw on Sunday night, 
Mac DeMarco is exactly the 
kind of person I look forward to 
seeing again in the future.

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

4B — Thursday, November 12, 2015
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

