On Saturday I saw Mac DeMarco at Aviva Studios in Manchester. It was a great episode!

His set was absolutely amazing, the sound was crisp, and I didn’t wear ear plugs. I enjoyed everything they played, even the new stuff I was unfamiliar with.

Mac is an amazing person to watch live, and his voice was so crisp while singing and even while talking. His Ps were like fireworks in my ears. He was very interesting in between songs, I started to think he was on something, but that’s his business!

Stealing Sheep ‘After party’

When we arrived, I was excited to learn that there was a free after party with STEALING SHEEP. They’ve been a big part of my listening life, so I was pumped. It was free entry too, could things get any better?

So Mac’s set ended, we wandered out and started to look for where this after party might be.

As we got to back the entrance – where some bars, merch stores etc. were located – there was a small platform with a woman on a computer. I didn’t actually know what Stealing Sheep looked like at the time, so I thought it might not be them.

Then I noticed there were Pioneer CDJs on the desk, so I started to get curious about whether this was actually meant to be the after party. Surely not, right? There is full blast on overhead lighting and queues for the cloakroom everywhere.

Then 11 o’clock came, we checked with staff and this was definitely the after party.

So now learning that this is where the party is, we started to try and party. It was a bit hard when people were pushing past and thinking we were queuing for the cloakroom.

They were playing amazing tunes, it’s not their fault the venue didn’t think about it at all. Like Vanessa said: the after-party was an after-thought. Oh well.

Funnily enough, I’ve taken part in a gig like that before. A DJ set with an audience of confused people who don’t know it’s happening. Maybe they’re pretty common gigs. We had to leave, but I hope the gig picked up for them.