Mac DeMarco Setlist

Shining
For the First Time
Sweeter
On the Level
0191009 I Like Her
Rock and Roll
Still Beating
Passing Out Pieces
No Other Heart
Rock and Roll Night Club
Heart to Heart
Little Dogs March
Ode to Viceroy
Ode to Viceroy reprise
One Another
Rooster
Freaking Out the Neighborhood
Holy
Moonlight on the River
Chamber of Reflection
— Encore —
My Kind of Woman
Freaking Out the Neighborhood (extended)

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■ Mac DeMarco
Mac DeMarco is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer.[4] Mac initially emerged in the indie music scene in 2012, and has since released six full-length studio albums: his debut 2 (2012), Salad Days (2014), This Old Dog (2017), Here Comes the Cowboy (2019), Five Easy Hot Dogs (2023) and Guitar (2025).

There are sold out shows and then there are sold out shows where the lines are out around the corner long before doors. With an all ages show and an early start time, things were hopping by the time I made it to First Avenue in Minneapolis for a Canadian invasion with opener Mock Media and headliner Mac Demarco.

Vancouver based quartet Mock Media were up first to get things started. With a pair of albums, including 2023’s Mock Media II, their self-descriptor is “jungle punk”, and my listen to their catalogue suggested a full bore, jangly rock, with a The Strokes like callback rock sound. The band (three vocalists, two guitars, bass, and drums) did roll around a lot of genres, from rock to punk to dance and even some different world influences (was that a bit of reggae?). I loved the aggressive attitude from the band and there’s just something to a group that is having fun. This was rock & roll in the best sense, and that jangle was in support of a specific vibe. Good movement on the stage really brought the crowd into Mock Media’s corner. Rat Bastard was a new song and had the two guitarists at the far edges both taking lead vocals on the verse, and when the bassist came in for harmonies on the chorus, Mock Media was at its height, with clear guitar work and generally great musicianship. Some reverb heavy guitar on an intro also had bassist and far right guitarist trade places on stage, effectively bringing attention to center. The band had a good sense of performance to go along with their musical chops, and that is the mark of a great live band. The ease with which they changed lead singers was impressive, and as the bassist got his song, we also got some of the sharpest drums as well. Mock Media had a blender full of musical influences and had found a way to wrap that up into a unique sound. A guitarist getting rid of his shirt got the appropriate crowd response (I couldn’t even name all of those muscles), and “this is a new one” preluded a pretty classic sounding rock song. With two songs left, the whole front trio was shirtless and a very world music influenced number ensued, with the longest instrumental section of the set. Closing on Mock City Rock, the song had a Talking Heads feel and Mock Media had wowed the audience with their range, skill, and joyful hooks and antics.

I spoke with Evan and Garnet after their set. We talked about all of their musical influences, and they spoke about having broad music listening backgrounds and how they didn’t want to make music that was too locked into one specific genre sound. Evan immediately laughed as he told me that the upcoming album actually is a little more straight rock & roll. That new one will be titled Rat Bastard and is due out in July. For those who catch Mock Media on this tour, one of the shorts they were selling has the likely cover art. With five shows left on this run, the band members also talked about how they balance life on the road with everything else (sounds like there is new family in the mix for at least one of them) and those tough choices will continue to be weighed. We finished with speaking about their on stage performance and they were complimentary of each other and it’s clear that Mock Media truly approaches this as a shared band, where there is room in the spotlight for all of them. We’ll keep our eyes out for the new album and waiting for their return to the Twin Cities.

Mac Demarco is a British Columbia native who has made his mark with a low-fi, indie slacker rock vibe. He has a significant catalogue, including 2025’s Guitar. The band came to stage as a quintet (vocals/guitar, guitar, keyboards/percussion, bass, and drums) and Demarco had some construction worker style reflective pants that seemed to indicate the lighter mood the evening would have. Sweeter really let the band get going and Demarco was dynamic in the early going, switching between guitars and none at all. Salad Days had the entire crowd singing along and Demarco was in his element. There was no taking things easy and Demarco lunged back and forth to the microphone and the audience was in an uproar. A silly bit of dark, husky speaking from Demarco described their day in staccato bursts and ended with a hilarious “it felt like we were in Minnesota”. I Like Her continued the audience favorites and we were in that sweet spot of a band in complete control and a crowd fully onboard. Rock and Roll came with the necessary gratuitous guitar solo and the band had a flair that was perfect for the evening. Some fantastic keyboard work was the center of Still Beating and when Demarco clapped once, The. Crowd. Was. On. It. The music is so fun and the mostly short numbers really allowed Demarco and band to cater to the audience in the way they wanted to (we would end the night well over twenty songs).

Demarco continued that super husky voice between songs, which simply amped up the crowd’s delight. Home was a perfectly sweet number and may have been a perfect summation of the evening. The long joke intro to My Kind of Woman was silly and the crowd ate it up. That rapport let Demarco crush the songs in a way that a straight play wouldn’t have done. The joyous response from the crowd really leveled things up, and when Little Dogs March hit, it let Demarco play up into that higher vocal register and the follow up of Ode to Viceroy again had a huge response from the audience. A pause in the music for a fan down (surprisingly common these days) quickly resumed as First Avenue staff (they may be the best in the biz) gave the thumbs up. Demarco’s charisma was impressive and showed why this was sold out. “I always wanted to play First Avenue, and here I’m playing First Avenue” was a cute moment and Another One was a great song to come after that and it also had Demarco in an extended handstand before the second verse. Rooster had all five members singing and that was just getting things going for the funk-infused Freaking Out the Neighborhood, which had multiple false endings, each getting more raucous cheers. Moonlight on the River was a saga, clocking in at over ten minutes with an epic drum solo on the extreme outro. After the main set ended, the band was back with a shirtless Demarco running full laps around the stage and back three times before starting the encore (“uno mas?”) with My Kind of Woman, then transitioning back into a reprise of Freaking Out the Neighborhood for the glorious close out. Mac Demarco then headed off stage to the final extended applause from a happy and satisfied crowd.