Mac DeMarco @ Roadrunner 9/9
Photography by Madison Kahler
Review by Kyra Papillo
Mac DeMarco, a budding musician who emerged in 2009 with his band Makeout Videotape, has created a solo career that has been nothing short of legendary. As a household name, Demarco pulled a huge audience at Roadrunner on September 9th, not shockingly, with ease. The crowd was buzzing with multiple age groups, demonstrating how timeless Demarcos’ music is across genres and ages.
Mac DeMarco’s opener, Daryl Johns, originally began as DeMarco’s bassist, and eventually released his debut album in 2024. With influences of jazz inspired by his parents, Johns uses this technique in the creation of his music. During his performance, the crowd reciprocated the upbeat synth-pop debut album that Johns displayed. Each song felt like a wave of nostalgia that connected with all audience members. Daryl Johns had an energy that was purely childlike in his excitement for being on stage. He ended his set by jumping into the crowd and crowd surfing.
Promoting his newest album, “Guitar,” DeMarco began his setlist with his song “Shining.” This set the mood for the entire concert, which allowed the audience to be immersed in DeMarco’s presence. Once he began talking to the audience, Mac DeMarco established his connection easily with a deep, parody-like voice in between each song. This lightened the mood amongst his heartfelt lyrics. The crowd loved every second of it. Moreover, the audience was interactive with the artist, which he seemed to enjoy. In between songs, the audience would ask DeMarco to take off his shirt, which he happily obliged. To add to crowd engagement, DeMarco would often dance to the beat of his songs and even twerked on the mic stand at one point.
Later in the set, Mac DeMarco performed his song “Still Beating,” which was a crowd favorite, had the audience dancing and singing along. This interactive and intimate atmosphere was amplified by an entourage of flashlights through the audience, which seemed to be a special moment for DeMarco. Later, he played “Heart To Heart,” a release from the album “Here Comes The Cowboy” from 2019. This song remains as one of my personal favorites, and the audience agreed as well.
After this, the audience offered to have an attendee play the bass to one of Mac DeMarco’s songs, which was received with the audience erupting in chants for “Danny.” DeMarco obliged and allowed Danny, with the assistance of Daryl Johns, to play bass on “My Kinda Woman.” This was a true representation of the community that can be established through the language of music. It was a heartfelt moment that I was truly gifted to experience.
I discovered Mac DeMarco in 2019 with the popularization of “Chamber of Reflection,” as did most of his cult following. Getting to experience songs that I once cherished was a truly groundbreaking moment in my life. I had never once thought that I would get to see an artist who was dear to the evolution of my musical taste. DeMarco was an artist who expanded my taste into the indie sphere. Towards the end of the setlist, DeMarco performed “Moonlight on the River” from his “This Old Dog” album, released in 2017. This album was formative for his career as it fully demonstrated his talents in both the musical and lyrical hemisphere. 
To juxtapose most of his songs lyrically, Mac DeMarco performed “Freaking Out the Neighborhood,” which tells a humorous story that occurred early in his career. As it is one of his most upbeat songs, the crowd was sent into a frenzy and enjoyed getting to watch their favorite artist dance on stage.
My experience with this concert was nothing short of nostalgic. DeMarco’s music has an essence that allows anyone to feel the guttural emotions that string the lyrics together. I left the concert wishing that it continued slightly longer, just to feel reminiscent of my teenage years spent listening to his music. I feel privileged to experience a concert from someone who has both shaped the indie sphere of music and created a genre that was entirely his own.