Mac Demarco has been famed for his controversy. From nudity, to shooting his mouth off, and even to being arrested, the Canadian-born artist has become known as something of a spectacle. But behind all of that is a back catalogue of faultless material, and indeed, if you could squint through the sea of selfie-taking stage-invaders at Leeds Irish Centre on Monday, that’s exactly what you were treated to.

Opening act Juan Wauters (accompanied by guitarist, Juan) had quite the act to precede, but nevertheless his distinctive garage-folk sound and quirky character kept the audience entertained. The Uruguayan born artist performed with an endearing enthusiasm that proved infectious as the build up to the nights headline act loomed ever closer.

Within an instant of taking to the stage, Mac’s effortless charm stole the show. Through new favourites like ‘Salad Days,’ ‘Blue Boy, and ‘Brother,’ through classics such as ‘The Stars Keep Calling My Name,’ ‘Cooking Up Something Good,’ and ‘Rock And Roll Nightclub,’ the band didn’t let down for a moment. Not even throughout the repeated stage invasion attempts from the crowd.

Diving onto the stage to take a quick selfie with Demarco or in front of the crowd, the majority of the room didn’t take long to express their distaste towards the minority throwing themselves under the stage lights. Ever the showmen, the group on stage dealt with it through humour. “Have we just had a known hated person from Leeds up with us?” was the response when one gig punter was boo-ed into stage diving out of the spotlight. “Have some love in your hearts!”

If anything, this show was a testament to Demarco and his band, powering through a barrage of stellar songs, not letting down for a moment, nor faltering, no matter how many times the stage flooded with people, and throughout it all, entertaining the crowd at their feet. An unexpected highlight of the night came in the improvised ‘Song For Jah’ as Demarco prompted the room to “light up,” and another in the form of the bassist dropping his instrument and barraging people off the stage – an action met with the cheers and support of everyone else in the venue.

It didn’t take more than a few bars of the closing song – a rousing rendition of ‘Together’ that quite literally brought the room to its knees – for the stage to flood with fans once again, but as the band refused to continue until only the band and crew remained, these numbers quickly diminished, much to the rooms approval. Pausing part way through to invite/enforce that the room kneel (if they were on their knees, they couldn’t be on the stage), a heartfelt singalong and Demarco diving into the crowd that had spent their night so keen to get up and join him, firmly cemented the show in the memories of all present.

It might not have been the most impressive gig to watch, obscured by fans and their many camera apps as it was, but packed with humour and displaying such versatile talent, not a person could say they didn’t have fun.

Jessica Goodman
@alotlikejessica

Photo Credit: Matthew Smith