Mac DeMarco drops goofy grooves at Loma Vista Gardens.

Mac DeMarco at the Loma Vista Gardens had everything you’d want from a good rock ‘n’ roll show, and then some.

The Pre-Reqs.

A Herschel-pack of Hipsters

Having grown up here, seeing the crowd gave me that first-15-minutes-of-a-romantic-comedy-feeling: where have you been all my life? Seriously, with all the combat jackets present, you could’ve raised an army, but instead of crew cuts, like one in five people would have a septum piercing.

A Well-Matched Venue

The Lome Dome was the perfect place to see Mac. His jangly, cigarette-tinged Polaroid pop demands a low-key, intimate venue, and the Gardens were just that: tree stump seating in the back giving way to a small standing area in the front. There were hanging incandescents lights and canned beer. Perfect.

A Warm-Up Act That Did Just That

Calvin Love’s witches brew of STRFKR twee, Cut Copy synths and Arctic Monkeys neon-skuzz got the crowd going. He was equal parts warrior and weirdo, shredding one minute and chirping into the mic the next. At one point he even lept into the audience and commanded us to dance. We happily obliged.

The Extra Credit

A Perfect Setlist

Mac kept it mostly to cuts from his acclaimed new album Salad Days, but there were some surprises like “Cooking Up Something Good” and “Ode to Viceroy” from 2012’s 2 and “Rock and Roll Night Club” off Mac’s first EP.  With audience energy cresting, he played “Freaking Out the Neighborhood,” prompting Vampire Weekend levels of giddy leg-flailing.

A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

When I saw Justin Timberlake, he walked on top of the mid-crowd bar and ordered a shot, and everyone went nuts; I didn’t buy it. The stunt was probably focus-grouped. DeMarco and Co., on the other hand, were pure, improvised joy. They told a clearly unscripted joke about prison and peppermint patties. They threw cigarettes into the crowd. They informed everyone that in Canada, the Queen Elizabeth would sodomize them if they obeyed royal orders. It was appealing, silly fun, not unlike some of DeMarco’s music. Their encore fittingly capped a hilarious, engaging set: after commanding everyone to kneel for Neil, they utterly rocked Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend.”

A Dash of Transcendence

Seeing Mac’s music live takes it to a new, even more expressive place. A juiced-up tempo and louder drum and bass parts helped turn Mac’s mellow guitar pop on “Stars Keep Calling My Name” and “Salad Days” into outright dance numbers. Elsewhere, “Chamber of Reflection” and “Treat Her Better” somehow managed to make music from the gap-toothed slob sexy.

With Mac on the up and up, you’d be a fool not to get in on the action.