Mac Demarco at Beacons Metro, Albert Hall Manchester review

Image: Mac Demarco

Say what you want about Mac Demarco, the gap-toothed singer-songwriter is fast becoming a cultural icon and his defiance to succumb to the perils of fame are pretty admirable too. 

In comparison to his breezy albums that glint nonchalantly with every pluck of his guitar, his live show is paradoxically unhinged, amplified raucously to quash expectations of the nod-along aesthetic that emanates from his albums. 

After the disbandment of their festival site in the Yorkshire dales, Beacons opted for a metropolitan approach, plugging creative spaces in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool with a series of forward-thinking shows.  

In Mac Demarco, they'd caught the biggest buzz artist on the planet right now; the guy who disclosed his genuine address to fans at the end of his mini-LP Another One, inviting everyone and all round for coffee. 

To lock him down at Manchester's Albert Hall was a granted decision, the two-tiered venue packed in Mac's ardent UK following across its sprawling balcony, while the rowdy pack on the bottom floor formed mosh pits aplenty throughout.

A primary catalyst for that being a mid-set cover of Rammstein's fireball 'Du Hast' that merged into 'Freaking Out The Neighbourhood'. Who even comes up with a concept like that? 

Coinciding with the adopted New Yorker's back to basics approach, no pyrotechnics, visuals or extravagant lighting beamed from the stage. The decadent aesthetic of the venue, the stained glass windows and of course, Mac's topless compadre Andrew Charles White with his on-stage lunacy provided sufficient visual stimulation. 

Clad in navy pants, his trademark baggy moss green t-shirt and a pair of NAVY vans - as opposed to his trademark battered red pair which he auctioned off on ebay for charity - Mac was affectionately dressed just as we imagined. He really doesn't dress for the occasion. 

One component he does shift for the occasion is the intensity in his approach. Standing virtually on the tipping point of the stage, he plummeted through staple opener 'The Way You'd Love Her' and old favourite 'Salad Days'.

The revolving bass line of 'No Other Heart' translated tremendously on stage, Demarco genuinely looked taken back by the reverberating choruses being aired off from every orifice. 

What's also apparent is that his earlier works have stood the test of time. 'Ode To Viceroy'and 'Cooking Up Something Good' etched mid-way into his set list before 'Still Together' prompted an inevitable stage dive. When he was eventually recovered, it was the turn of 'Chamber Of Reflection' to swear in the encore.

It's becoming an ever recurring party trick from Mac and the band, but to see him cover Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' was fucking incredible. Cap that off with Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water' and you're heading home with an unsuspecting black eye and increasingly fixated to the Mac Demarco charm.

Like this? Read our review of Mac Demarco 'Another One'