Article by Alessandro Canalicchio | Photo by Giada Stanzian
We are at that moment of the year when Milan reaches absurd temperatures, the kind that make you regret not having followed the anti-heat advice on the news. Arriving at Music Park in the car, window down, what enters is not just a hot breath: it is also the desire of the fans to finally hear their favorite songs live, recognizable from a distance even before the faces, by the clothes.
There were those who pulled the most unlikely floral shirt out of the wardrobe, those who opted for the fake Seventies mustache, those who showed up in slippers as if they were going to the seaside and not to a concert. Just look at them to understand who's here tonight: MacDeMarco.
And in fact he had been waiting for quite a while, seven years to be precise: a long time has passed since the last time the Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist performed in Italy, in Milan, in 2019. The return comes thanks to a three-date mini tour organized by DNA Concertswhich after Bologna and Rome closes the Italian trilogy right at the Parco della Musica in Segrate, on Garden stage. DeMarco brings Guitar live, his latest album written and recorded entirely alone in his home in Los Angeles in November 2024 and released in the summer of 2025: a record that renounces synthesizers and superstructures in favor of essential electric and acoustic guitars, with a voice that critics have described as never so tired and yet hopeful. A more intimate album than usual, in short, which tonight will find its natural support in an equally relaxed audience, willing to let the evening slide over them without haste.
Otto Benson opens the dance
He thinks about warming up the atmosphere Otto Bensona young artist from Brooklyn who presents himself on stage with the ease of someone used to leading the way for the greats without being intimidated. His set has certain theme song vibes SpongeBobcheerful and a little naive, made up of soft songs and guitars that already seem to prepare the ground for what comes next. It doesn't upset anyone, but it wins over those who showed up early and still want to listen to something before the main course.
Mosquitoes, sweat and For the First Time
As soon as he goes on stage, Mac greets Milan and introduces one by one the musicians who accompany him on this world tour, colleagues from his own label, the Mac's Record Label: Mock Media, Tex Crick, Daryl Johns And Vicky Farewellthe band with which the entire Guitar tour tours. Then he announces that he will try to play as many songs as possible tonight. Leave with For the First Timeand while he opens the dance the audience is attacked by a crowd of mosquitoes that seem to have been organized specifically for the occasion, as if we were an open-air buffet. We collectively regret not having bought the mosquito repellent offered by the providential tout at the entrance, who on balance turns out to be an unheard prophet.
Jumps, prayers and infinite thanks
With On the Level Mac is casual as only he can be, and thanks the audience in Italian with a “A thousand thanks” which looks like it came straight out of a Super Mario video game. When he leaves I Like Her he takes a running start and jumps, dressed in jeans and a farmer's shirt that tell us who he is and how he plays, even if someone in the audience wonders, quietly, if he isn't dying of heat in that climate. During Rock and roll he even lies down on the stage and puts himself in a prayer position: a character imaginative enough to no longer surprise anyone at this point in the evening.
He then continues to thank the audience with a “thank you thank you” repeated in bursts, almost in a loop, which becomes the unofficial catchphrase of the evening. At irregular intervals a small ritual is also repeated: Mac stops, looks at the audience and only shouts “Down!”. Hundreds of people instantly crouch down, then jump up and jump together when the music starts again. Nothing else is needed to bring stage and audience into harmony.
During Here Comes the Cowboy the climate gradually becomes more subtropical, and next to us someone faints from the heat: the evening continues anyway, with songs that not everyone knows by heart (also because in the meantime Mac has released a monstrous album of 199 songs, One Wayne Gpractically impossible to know in full) but which can still be enjoyed in the present moment.
A godfather, two Italians and half a sung pizza
With Passing Out Pieces what seems like the high point of the evening arrives: Mac twirls the microphone like a lasso and catches it on the fly with circus-like precision, while behind him colorful and explosive visual trip graphics flow. Immediately afterwards the keyboard player plays a few notes from The Godfather, and Mac calls Paolo back on stage, an Italian fan who had already had his hair shaved off in front of everyone during a tour date in Paris: tonight the scene repeats itself, with Paolo sitting down again while the band continues to play. Meanwhile our guest presents what he simply calls “a king“: Ryan Parishistoric face of 80s Italian disco, with whom he performed live for the first time You're all I haveItalian version of Still What I'm Looking For.
The register suddenly changes with Heart to Heartwritten for Mac Miller, the friend and colleague who passed away in 2018 with whom he had built a real bond, out of the spotlight. Meanwhile above our heads, a couple of planes pass heading towards Linate, which with those intermittent lights in the dark sky seem to be there on purpose, almost as if they were choreographed. The audience is spread out without pressure or arguments, it completely melts when it's on Turn My TV On Mac starts listing, over the backing track, a list of Italian food: pizza, pasta, lasagna. A touch of “Oh mama” plus, the right one to make even those in the front row who don't speak a word of Italian laugh.
Freaking Out the Neighborhood doesn't want to end
Then it arrives Freaking Out the Neighborhoodan indisputable hit, which seems to end but doesn't: Mac takes breaks, asks the audience to bend down, and starts again. He does it several times, almost as if to test how much the song can stretch without breaking, while in the meantime he entertains the audience with a deliberately sensual voice, saying how much he likes it and how much he loves whoever is in front of him, with a tone that makes anyone feel almost like a victim of very rock and roll catcalling. When the piece finally ends, he retraces his steps and starts again with the solo from the previous song, as if he couldn't let it go. It comes later Moonlight on the Riversung under the full moon at the end of June, which unfortunately is on the opposite side of the stage from us but which nevertheless builds an almost hypnotic atmosphere.
On Chamber of Reflectionbetween synthesizers that are surprisingly still enjoyable, on the chorus comes a blinding flash that illuminates the audience, who in turn loudly asks for another piece, because it hasn't arrived yet My Kind of Woman: song that would close the setlist on a high note and that actually arrives, because Mac could never leave the stage without singing it and finding a furious crowd at his heels. But it doesn't end there: Ryan Paris also returns, and together they bring out the loudest screams of the evening, inciting the audience to repeat every word, and then thanking them with a “thank you fucking so much” which closes the circle perfectly. The concert ends with a cover of Human Nature by Michael Jackson, once again with Ryan Paris.
Outside the park, among those who still pass around the mosquito repellent as if it were a souvenir and those who check the bites accumulated during the evening, you can feel that kind of good tiredness that only a concert gone well leaves. There's something curious about a concert that brings together the most disenchanted slacker rock of North America and the glossiest Italian disco of the Eighties, and which still manages to make them seem made to be together. Perhaps this is precisely Mac DeMarco's secret: taking different eras and worlds and making them sit at the same table, without anyone feeling out of place. Seven years of waiting finally passed in a couple of hours.
Click here to see photos of Mac DeMarco in concert in Milan or browse the gallery below
MAC DEMARCO – the setlist of the Milan concert
For the First Time
Sweeter
On the Level
Phantom
Salad Days
I Like Her
Rock and roll
Terror
Finally Alone
Still Beating
All of Our Yesterdays
Passing Out Pieces
Home
No Other Heart
You're All I Have (with Ryan Paris)
Rock and Roll Night Club
Heart to Heart
This Old Dog
Ode to Viceroy
Turn My TV On
One More Love Song
Another One
Rooster
Simply Paradise (with Ryan Paris)
Freaking Out the Neighborhood
Holy
Moonlight on the River
Chamber of Reflection
My Kind of Woman
Dolce Vita (cover by Ryan Paris)
Human Nature (cover by Michael Jackson, featuring Ryan Paris)
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
