Live Review: Mac Demarco, The Murlocs, Scott & Charlene's Wedding

The Murlocs have been making waves with their soulful and distorted brand of R&B ever since winning triple j’s Harvest Festival competition in 2012 and scoring a spot on the line-up.

Finally touring with their new album, Loopholes, after several setbacks (like the time some dickhead stole their producer’s laptop and they lost several new tracks) last night’s set was a perfect lead-in for DeMarco. Honourable mention to the DIY slacker-rock stylings of Scott & Charlene’s Wedding too – make sure you have a sneaky look at his 2013 album Any Port In A Storm.

Mac DeMarco. The man, the legend. The guy you probably want to be best friends with. That most chill guy ever brought the house down at the Metro in a way that could only happen at an underage gig.

Stepping on to the stage, DeMarco waved off the screams of adoring 15-year-olds and launched straight into Salad Days. The dude has stage banter down pat, making the large venue seem intimate: pulling crowd members up on stage, entertaining everyone with his weird voices and even bringing his mum on for a duet at one point (cute).

The only downside of it being an underage gig was the inordinate amount of screaming that was going on, but it was also really great to see people who weren’t the usual suspects enjoying and supporting live music.

Tracks like Freaking Out The Neighbourhood and Let Her Go were standouts. There was a great mix of tracks from all his albums, though Salad Days was a favourite among this crowd. It’ll be interesting to see how his Laneway set compares.

From the moment he stepped onto the stage, to when he alighted from the most epic crowdsurf we’ve ever seen in his trademark overalls (right to the top tiers of the Metro, then all the way around and backstage), DeMarco’s presence was electric.