Mac DeMarco’s Hoxton Party

Note: This article was originally published on Toronto Artist Collective, a now-defunct online publication.

Hailing from British Columbia by way of Montreal, Mac DeMarco’s most recent album, 2, was longlisted last year for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. His music, persona and live show come across as the antithesis to such accolades — before seeing him live on Sunday, November 24that the Hoxton, his albums 2 and Rock N’ Roll Night Club were at the top of my “back porch beer drinking music” list. Riding the wave of relaxation that comes with the lounge-rock throwback of Night Club or the slightly sharper 2 makes DeMarco an easy, fun listen, and his live show feels like the natural extension of his attitude.

The crowd’s excitement as DeMarco and his crew (his Entourage-style posse sat at a table onstage smoking cigarettes and drinking beers) arrived onstage lead into an energetic 30 minutes of some of his higher-tempo material. The concert slowly evolved into the closest thing to a party that the Hoxton could hold — DeMarco and his band taking turns off of bars to drink sips of their beer, members of his crew crowdsurfing two at a time. Halfway through the set he changed the tune to a couple of his live show standbys, BTO’s ‘Taking Care of Business’ among them, and it became pretty clear that playing a concert of his hits is not his style. I hadn’t even been to a house party as fun as this before, with the guitarist wearing a blonde wig and hot pink trucker hat, the crew members crowdsurfing in the nude, and the music for the second half of the set like a repurposed party version of Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ ‘Zephyr Song’.

DeMarco’s energetic set had the perfect setup man in Toronto dreampop band Elsa. Having picked up buzz as a solo project of lead singer Jonathan Kennedy Rogers before inking a deal with Fucked Up guitarist Mike Haliechuck’s label One Big Silence, the now-four-piece band played a great set of music from their EP I Do as well as some unreleased tracks. The early 90s alternative influence was apparent, with a slightly higher energy level punctuated by eager drumming.

The last-minute cancellation of projected openers Ell V Gore was mitigated by the all-bases covered approach of DeMarco’s laid back party, Elsa’s nod to everything that inspired the current crop of indie songwriters today and opening band Cellphone’s schizophrenic Andrew W.K. Impression. The identity crisis of my ticket between good music, good time and good show was all welcome.

Originally published at brrrton.tumblr.com.