Mac DeMarco’s night at London’s Eventim Apollo unfolded like a sprawling, affectionate scrapbook of his career – part intimate showcase, part surreal, and entirely true to his idiosyncratic charm.
Playing an impressive 27-song set, he drifted between the hushed, intricate pieces from his latest album Guitar and the sun-bleached favourites that have defined him for over a decade. The contrast gave the evening a gentle ebb and flow: moments of quiet vulnerability followed by bursts of loose, good-humoured chaos.
What stood out immediately was how strong DeMarco’s vocals have become. The fragile, high-reaching lines of his new material landed with clarity and grit, while the older songs felt warmer and more lived-in than ever. Tracks like ‘Salad Days,’ ‘Ode to Viceroy,’ and ‘Moonlight on the River’ drew some of the loudest reactions of the night, with the latter building into a lengthy, feedback-heavy crescendo that flooded the room in shimmering distortion.
Yet even as he leaned into a more mature musical palette, DeMarco’s mischievous streak kept breaking through. He joked with the crowd, swung his microphone around like a lasso, and at one point launched into an impromptu handstand competition on stage. The sense of unpredictability gave the show a homemade, communal feel – as if the audience had been invited into a private jam session where anything could happen.
His band added a sense of sophistication throughout the set, bringing crisp grooves, glowing synth lines, and even flashes of soft-rock polish that evoked an almost Steely Dan-esque edge. Songs such as ‘Home’ and ‘Holy’ felt newly expansive, lifted by the band.
The night’s strangest and most charming moment came when 72-year-old singer Ryan Paris wandered onstage for a wonderfully unhinged cameo that involved enthusiastic dancing and the unexpected removal of his belt – a perfectly Mac DeMarco touch of the bizarre.
By the encore, the stage had dissolved into a jubilant free-for-all: a sweaty, shirtless, joyously off-key group performance that felt more like the end of a raucous house party than a refined theatre show.
In the end, the concert captured the duality of DeMarco’s current phase – older, softer, more introspective, yet still carried by the playful, slightly unruly spirit that has always made his shows feel like hanging out with a very talented, very unpredictable friend. It was messy, heartfelt, musically rich, and unmistakably him.
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Words & Photography: Vee Pandey