Those of you familiar with lo-fi cult hero Mac Demarco, won’t be too surprised to hear that the Canadian multi-instrumentalist brought goofs, laughs and a wealth of chaotic covers to The Piece Hall in Halifax. 

Following the somewhat mixed response to his most recent, hushed release Here Comes The Cowboy, the ever-touring charismatic frontman put smiles on the faces of this tightly-huddled crowd with his on-stage antics.  Smoking cigarettes pretty much throughout, Mac, Dad-danced his way through a set which spanned all corners of his back catalogue.  Whether it was the washed, lush synths of ‘On The Level’, or the wobbly guitars during ‘Salad Days’ – the crowd lapped it up.  Support during the evening came in the form of opening acts Working Men’s Club, Amyl & The Sniffers and Yellow Days – who all helped in setting the mood as the sun shone down on the courtyard of The Piece Hall. 

Watching on from the audience during the headline performance, it really felt as though we were watching five musicians all having the absolute times of their lives.  This was on clear display during the encore, as Mac (who by this point is now donning a pink Cowboy hat donated from the crowd), led a genre-bending lengthy jam session – throwing in a number of tongue-in-cheek takes on Rock classics for good measure.  I’ll never think back to Mac stomping around the stage during his rendition of ‘Killing In The Name’ by Rage Against The Machine without internally laughing.

Header Image Credit: Christine Lai