Live Report: Mac DeMarco, Beabadoobee and Kirin J Callinan at the Iveagh Gardens

DeMarco was supported by Kirin J Callinan, an Australian known for his strong guitar skillset. Callinan's music walks a thin tightrope between parody and serious - one of his most well-known songs ‘Big Enough’ is about feuding cowboys. There is a solo of him screaming with an almost Eurovision-esque pop beat in the background. He gathered an impressive crowd and up the front you could see a few major fans singing/screaming along.

The second support was London native, bedroom-pop princess ‘Beabadoobee’. Frontwoman Bea Kristi greeted the crowd with genuine excitement to be there, and was surprised by Ireland’s hospitality noting that "Everyone seems so happy, so happy". She played songs such as ‘If You Want To’ and ‘Dance With Me’ and a crowd that didn’t necessarily know all her lyrics still bopped along to her carefree vibes. It is definitely not the last we will be hearing from this blue haired indie-teen.

Beabadoodee’s overall positive energy, chill music and excitement about Ireland was a perfect combination with Kirin J Callinan to get the crowd ready for DeMarco. As Mac graced the stage, he introduced everyone to his band mates, invited us all to sing along and have a good time in his smooth deep voice. Even stating "stay hydrated" sounds enlightening and wise coming from the Canadian-born 29-year old. He starts with a song from his album This Old Dog called ‘On The Level’. A mellow opener, but it was greeted with an erupting cheer and a sing along. It was a great tester to see what kind of crowd was in attendance. It was clear this was an audience of fans who loved Mac DeMarco and the aesthetic he promoted. The second song he played was one of his biggest releases and one that most would recognise: ‘Salad Days’. It’s about acting one’s age and Mac DeMarco ‘checking’ himself and making sure he isn’t being eaten up by fame. It was a perfect time to play as the sun was just starting to dimmer as the crowd sings along in unison to the chorus of ‘la-la-la-la’.

His third song was ‘Nobody’. It was surprising that it took him this long to play a song from his new album Here Comes the Cowboy. It may be for the fact that his newest album got a bit of backlash as some critics noted that there was no passion and the lyrics of some of the songs were repetitive. From the songs he played from this album live, some of the most memorable were ‘Nobody’ , ‘Finally Alone’, ‘All of Our Yesterdays’ and ‘Choo Choo’. It seemed they were created to be heard live and grooved along to in an audience environment - especially ‘Choo Choo’, which is essentially a song about going on a train and has the train whistle noise throughout. When listening to this song on record, one may think it’s underwhelming where regardless of DeMarco’s laid-back demeanour he usually is a bit more complex in his music but this song is especially transformed when its heard lives. One of the tracks that was considered one of the weakest of the album was one of the strongest live. With a funky guitar riff paired with DeMarco’s silky voice, all you wanted to do was dance along.

Although, DeMarco is an overall relaxed guy and prides himself with that image, he can still maintain a crowd throughout - especially for more danceable songs such as ‘Freaking Out The Neighbourhood’ and ‘Ode to Viceroy’. However, it takes a remarkable live performer to make issues such as the absence of is father when he was younger ‘My Old Man’, the topic of unreciprocated affection ‘Another One’ and the issue of loneliness ‘Chamber of Reflections’ all consumable and relatable with an energetic live crowd in this outdoor venue located in the heart of Dublin City.

One of the downfalls of an outdoor venue is that you can lose some of the intimacy that’s naturally created in confined indoor music venues. However, the Iveagh Gardens was the perfect choice for DeMarco’s style of music and stage presence. The venue is not too small for an outdoor gig that you are bombarded with bodies, but not to huge that the camaraderie between performers and crowd is too impacted.

Regardless, Mac DeMarco is characteristically everything you want in a performer. He chats to the crowd like they are his mates. His soft-spoken casual voice asking you to dance along "if you want", combined with the Iveagh Gardens summer atmosphere, filled everyone with the same postive energy. If you are a fan of DeMarco, but have negative connotations due to the last album, I advise you to pop along to his next live set. It will reignite your love for Canada’s mellowest musician.