Neither the Eagles’ season opener nor thunderstorms could keep diehard Mac DeMarco fans from filling the Franklin Music Hall in September for the singer’s first Philadelphia show since 2019. Hot off the release of new album “Guitar,” he easily matched their energy.
“We’re only just beginning,” he would intone after finishing the eleventh song of a 25-song set.
Fellow Canadian indie outfit Mock Media opened for him with their rowdy, fuzzed-out brand of “jungle punk,” warming up and winning over a crowd unfamiliar with their music. Franklin Music Hall’s acoustics do no musicians any favors, but the big room suited them — and after DeMarco emerged to a roaring crowd, he managed to rein the big room into an intimate space.
Consistently defying expectations over the past few years, DeMarco has gotten sober, quit smoking, released an instrumental album, dropped a nearly nine-hour-long compilation of unreleased music with no promotion, sworn off touring, and now returned to tour with an unexpectedly stripped-down acoustic album.
In keeping with that tendency, after introducing the band — Alec Meen, Pedro Martin, Daryl Johns, and Phil Melanson — he began with “Shining,” the first track from the new album.
Barely two weeks removed from the album, it sounded like the crowd had yet to warm up to the track, and DeMarco knowingly segued into “For the First Time,” settling into a rhythm of new-then-familar songs. True to the album, he stuck to vocals only for the new tracks, passing the acoustic guitar to Martin.
“Guitar” is “a record from an old man who wants to go on tour and sing for his fans a couple times a week,” he told Dazed magazine.
And he clearly wanted to be there, having just as good a time as anyone in the audience — willing to lead the singalongs and clap-alongs. His onstage antics — growling, whooping, and cajoling — are guiltless goofing around, eccentric but no longer erratic, where everyone is in on the joke.
After slowing down for “Home,” he put the next track to a surprise poll: would it be an “incredibly old” one, or “less old, but about my truck?” Incredibly old won, and “She’s All I Really Need” was followed by “Proud True Toyota.”
A few songs later, there was another interruption: “This song is very near to our hearts and difficult to play, so please — bear with us,” DeMarco announced solemnly.
“Freaking Out the Neighborhood” followed, to (obviously) huge cheers.
They kept up the momentum, eventually reaching lead “Guitar” single “Holy,” which got a surprisingly warm reception from the audience. The band showed its appreciation by letting loose with an extended jam that seemed it would be impossible to bring into land — but they expertly wrapped it up.
Seemingly at last, the encore arrived before the encore: a singalong of “Moonlight on the River” faded into a free-for-all jam, followed by “My Kind of Woman” and concluding with “Chamber of Reflection.” The true encore came after a few minutes of dawdling, by which time people had begun streaming out, leaving just the diehards for “Nobody.”
While “Guitar” received an initially lukewarm reception, maybe owing to its extremely lo-fi approach — many of the songs are practically demos — there was a lot of love for the new tracks at Franklin Music Hall. It is both a return to form and some of his most direct material: intimate and reflective, with more folk and much less edge than some of his synth-drenched classics. And for a so-called old man, DeMarco sounds phenomenal.