Kevin Bronson on January 30th, 2014

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Hey, Mac DeMarco, I hardly ever wish I were 21 years old again – those were strange times, but that’s another story – but on Wednesday night at the beer-drenched Echo, you made me wish I had a magic pill.

Your crowd was rowdy. Of course, you know that – you in your overalls and ball cap with that silly gap-toothed smile and Animal House stage antics, you incited them. Which wasn’t even necessary. A lot of those fans stood in a line more than two blocks long for upwards of three hours just to get into the $3 show, and the Echo is too small a room for the nor’easter that is Mac DeMarco these days. It was a powder keg fueled by tallboys and kids with no manners. That drunk girl who started crowd-surfing during the first set somehow made it to the end, but not the belligerent bro who kept assaulting people up front. He finally got kicked out, though not without a scuffle.

Still, the music had a lot to do with the place reaching a fever pitch. They call it
“slacker rock,” but there was nothing slack about it Wednesday. Underneath their ball caps, your three comrades-in-mayhem were pretty tight and downright vicious. If I counted right, you rocked five songs from your 2012 album “2” – “Ode to Viceroy,” “She Keeps Calling My Name,” “Annie,” “Robson Girl” and “Still Together.”

Longtime devotees got to hear three oldies from “Rock & Roll Night Club” too, including the title track, but I didn’t catch much from the forthcoming album that has everybody excited, “Salad Days” (coming April 1). Maybe I was too busy dodging the human chains of young ladies winding their way through the crowd in search of whatever young ladies search for in the middle of concerts while not paying attention to the music. However, it is possible they were on their way to the front of the room so they could hop onstage and give you a big ol’ kiss, which two fans did.

Anyway, that was some serious Canadian chaos you brought to Echo Park, and with the death knell being sounded once again for rock ’n’ roll, it was great to see that in your corner of the world, rock still rocks. It was just a bummer that scores of fans who waited in line for so long never made it into the club.

Avid Dancer, you started off the evening in lovely fashion, if a little slow. You’re such a tease, leaving your most propulsive songs “Not Far to Go” and “Medication” to the end of your set, but all the couples who were there for their Thursday date night connected with the rest of the set’s romantic, harmony-drenched psych-pop. Can’t wait for some of these songs to be out in the world.

And Puro Instinct, well, I remain befuddled. There just wasn’t enough in that set of lightweight pop to quell any of the many conversations in the room. Thankfully young Mr. DeMarco took care of that.

Yours in tipsiness,
That One Gray-Haired Guy

Photos by Carl Pocket courtesy of the Echo