Mk.Gee's Guitar Weaves A Dream In First Melbourne Show: Live Review

Header Image supplied (Credit: Bradley Calder)

Droves of music heads of varying ranks poured out of Max Watts, Melbourne's underground hub, with a sense that they bore witness to an ethereal show that their imagination simply could not have crafted on its own.

That feeling came to fruition over the course of two hours or so, at the hands of New Jersey-based singer-songwriter and fringe guitarist, Mk.gee, and his band fed a starving Naarm audience their grungy alternative pop sound from yesteryear as part of Mk.gee’s debut tour of Australia, following the release of his already-beloved third album Two Star & The Dream Police

Quietly described amongst diehards as “your favourite artist’s favourite artist”, Mk.gee’s biggest supporters range from hip-hop stalwart Anderson .Paak to UK poet Loyle Carner to, most recently, guitar god Eric Clapton. So, it's no surprise that, when watching Mk.gee live in any venue in the world, you’re witnessing true artistry being performed in a house full of music nerds who are thirsty enough to soak it all up. 

When doors open at 7:30 PM, and the artist is due to arrive around 9:00 PM, and there are no support acts to fill the time in between, and the place is packed out, bustling with chatter and hype; you know that there isn't anywhere else you should be. 

This couldn't be more evident as even the sound techs at Max Watts poke fun at the eagerness of the live crowd, pumping the brakes a few times on the generic Big Tention Sound Mix blaring through the speakers to make the live crowd think their star of the night was going to roll out a little earlier than expected. He didn’t, for what it’s worth. In fact, he was a touch late, but nobody was complaining when the synths and hums of the half-titular track from the album, Dream police, seeped through the room to start the night off.

Mk.gee himself steps out through smoke and a white backlight that creates a mystical silhouette, leaving so much of the usual theatrics of a performer to the imagination. 

There’s usually plenty to draw from features like a wide smile, jet-lagged eyes, or perhaps the emotion of being received with an eruption of noise, but we truly see none of it from Mk.gee. Not because he’s short on emotion—there’s plenty of it in the music, body language, and voice—but there are only very brief moments the entire night where the audience gets a good look at his face and the features it bears due to the lighting choice. 

The band is always backlit, whether it be with white strobe, moody red lighting, or a pulsing combination of the two. Photographers who specialise in grayscale work would have a field day at a Mk.gee gig. If it weren’t for the pops of colour provided by the exit signs or the screens of phones capturing memories that will stand the test of time, you’d think all colour in the room had been stripped away by the sheer intensity and aura of the mind-bending axe wielder. 

Perhaps that’s on brand for Mk.gee.

Speaking on his raw emotion, a clear sign that this was the case was during instances like ‘Candy’, where Mk.gee would unleash a sharp, short but guttural yelp out to the Naarm faithful, who would roar back in kind. This happened numerous times throughout the set, and each time, Mick Gordon, the man behind the moniker, would have his energy matched by his people. 

He couldn’t have had this live crowd in the palm of his hands any more, and he didn’t need to say much to hold that attention. The performance of Candy itself was a highlight of the set—perhaps one of the more underrated songs from the album as opposed to the popular Are You Looking Up or a cult favourite like Alesis. At points, it felt as though the band had something to prove with this song, presenting it to their audience with an extra oomph that the album version intentionally omits.

The set flies by, partly due to the entrancing nature of the woozy sonics of the band, and partly due to the entrancing visuals. A key component of the set that assists with this is the power found in silence. 

There are very few moments during the set where there’s true silence, even when one song finishes and another is being tuned and lined up to begin. An almost white noise-like synth fills the gap. It keeps the audience on edge, never really knowing when the strums or beats of the next song in the set are going to come in. While not completely unheard of in live performance, this bold decision pays off as it allows the set to move seamlessly. It may not work for every band, but bands looking to present their shows as one complete body of work should look to Mk.gee for notes.

The aforementioned red lighting cuts through the grayscale aesthetic to welcome ‘Lonely Fight’, a change in pace but also the first of two songs in the set that aren’t featured on the recently released album. A slow, vulnerable, intimate yet dreamy song that has an intentionally plodding bassline, pulling at the heartstrings in a similar fashion to how Mike Gordon plucks at his guitar. 

The crimson wash sticks around for ‘I Want’ before the white backlight is reintroduced in bursts through the beats and pulses of ‘Rylee & I’, until finally, it returns for good for the next song, a return to the pace found at the beginning of the set. This is where the set goes from great to iconic.

Let’s have ourselves a DNM, shall we? 

A thumping drumbeat tells Mk.gee’s maniacs in Max Watts that this is the one they can let loose to, and Melbourne doesn't hold back. During the performance, there are murmurs and whispers going around the room from the fans who are in the know about what they believe may occur. 

In an era where trap mogul Travis Scott ran his smash hit ‘FE!N’ up to 10 times repeatedly to raucous, and sometimes far too ‘gee’d up’ audiences, it felt as though there was still real magic when Mk.gee gave back to his fan base by running the upbeat tune back a second time. This continued another two more times after that, each time garnering a more joyous ovation from the audience, who may just be stoked to have gotten one more than Sydney, really. 

It’s a nice present for the entire room, vindicating their biggest supporters who hoped that they’d get the song on the trot in the manner they did, and making for a wholesome surprise for the fans who perhaps don’t spend the day of a gig refreshing Setlist.fm over and over again. 

Either way, it is undoubtedly marked as THE moment of the night for a large section of the audience. It’s the type of moment that those in the room will talk about for some time.

From there, the band moves from strength to strength, closing out the set with ROCKMAN (the aftershock to the earthquake that was Two Star & The Dream Police), which was set-up with a great gag by Mk.gee himself where he hints at playing an unreleased track before ripping into the latest release, then follows ‘Breakthespell’, and ‘Are You Looking Up’ before the band pays tribute to the traditions of live performance by disappearing abruptly into the night, only to pour back out moments later to rock out to ‘Alesis’, ‘ROCKMAN’ one more time, and, why not, ‘DNM’ again while they’re at it.

As the final song closes out, Mk.gee and his band, synth-sequencer master Zack Sekoff and second guitarist Andrew Aged, take centre stage to receive their well-earned adulation from a roaring Melbourne faithful, no doubt putting together one of the most memorable gigs of the year, and perhaps a gig that will reverberate through the walls of Max Watts for some time.

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Stream Mk.gee’s album Two Star & the Dream Police here.
Follow Mk.gee on Instagram - @mk.gee_
Visit Mk.gee’s website - www.mkgee.com