Live: Mac Miller (100Bands #54)
What’s Left: 93 Days. 46 Bands.
Band #54: Mac Miller
When/Where: May 20th, Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
Expectations: The Mac Miller bandwagon made its way around Durham pretty quickly and picked up a lot of speed in the wake of recent Wiz Khalifa shows. And though I have my reservations about Mac Miller himself, I was pretty optimistic after a friend reassured me that Mac was even more enjoyable to her than Wiz’s live performance.
Concert: I like being front row, and though I’m not a huge fan of Mac Miller it is for this reason that my concert buddy and I arrived two hours early to Cat’s Cradle before Mac Miller’s sold out show. After sitting around outside and marveling at the number of young high school boys wearing snap backs, we were among the first to enter the venue when doors finally opened. Success. I situated myself at my usual spot, slightly to the right of center stage, and settled in to wait for the first openers.
After an incredibly engaging performance from local talent Rapsody and crew, Mac Miller finally took to the stage with his entire entourage. After playing a few crowd-pleasers, Mac asked the crowd if he could “get serious for a second” and dedicated his next song, “I’ll Be There” to his grandfather who passed away before his big break. He later broke the somewhat somber mood by joking a bit about his mom and asked, “your moms don’t smoke weed too?” It was definitely cool to hear him sing such a serious song live. It was also really representative of the nice variety of songs he played during the show, everything from his most recent tracks off of Best Day Ever to old classics from K.I.D.S. like “Senior Skip Day” and the Owl City-themed “Don’t Mind If I Do.”
Other highlights of the show included “Knock Knock” and “Oy Vey,” two guilty pleasure Mac Miller songs for me. Both are a bit more pop-like in sound, but they turned out to be great live choices, and were easy for the entire crowd to get into and sing along, the crowd got pretty hyped for both. In the end, Mac teased the crowd a bit by stalling before closing with “Donald Trump.” This song was hands-down his most exciting part of the show, even the people I could see backstage were jamming along. The entire room was jumping up and down spitting out lyrics along with Mac. After the whole Mac Miller team vacated the stage, a few girls decided to jump up and start dancing, prompting half the room to rush the stage before security, and Mac himself, asked them to bounce.
The show surprised me. I’m not any bigger of a fan than I was prior to the show, but I definitely respect Mac Miller a bit more, it’s easy to tell he’s a solid guy. Though the crowd was heavy with annoying underage kids, and it’s still kind of strange to me that Mac has his whole “Most Dope Team” on stage with him during the show, I had a good time. From someone in the crowd daringly lighting some celebratory “medicinal,” to everyone dancing with their thumbs up and elbows out, to best bud Jimmy’s seriously flamboyant outfit and bodyguard Big Dave’s sheer size, it all made the night pretty memorable.
Concert Afterglow: Did I really frisk Mac Miller’s leg? Did I really waste my opportunity to rep my school by screaming randomly instead when one of the guys from Rapsody’s set handed me the mike? Was I really one of those lame high schoolers on the stage after the show ended? Yes, yes, and yes. Really hyped show, I could barely sleep that night.
Recommendation: Mac Miller knows how to engage a crowd, and if you like his music at all you will undoubtedly love his concerts. Anyone not really a fan of his music, don’t expect anything new or groundbreaking about the show or his songs, but for a mere $17 I think it was more than worth it.
Written by Ambrielle (Blog | Twitter).
*Sorry for the poor photo quality, forgot the camera at home, had to use my cell phone. I’ll do better next time!
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