An Ode to the Underground: Mk.Gee Live Show Review

There is something to be said about a concert that is able to transport you to the familiarity of your hometown basement whilst still shrouding the leading artist in mystery. Mk.Gee (Michael Gordon) cast a cloak of intimacy, intensity and inventiveness over the House of Blues Dallas September 15th that only those in attendance will really be able to understand. 

Two Star and the Dream Police record was released early February as Mk.Gee’s debut studio album and immediately garnered the attention of artists like Justin Bieber, Eric Clapton and Frank Ocean. Mk.Gee has been rightfully praised for his mastery of the guitar, and seeing it live was outstanding. However, Mk.Gee is more than a guitarist, he’s a performer in his own right that deeply understands his audience. 

This uncanny strength in audience interaction was surprising given that Mk.Gee seems almost sheepish. The grown out bangs that dust the top of his nose bridge, combined with the cascading white and red lights, forced only a silhouette into visibility. The man of the hour presented more like a figment of the imagination. Mk.Gee could very well be an apparition, the only evidence of his being there the swaying and jumping bodies of the crowd. It would be extremely easy for this mystery to deter from the concert experience but instead, the show just felt incredibly stripped to its bones. The lack of pomp and circumstance added rather than detracted from his showmanship. Without the persona of an artist trying to be something they’re not, we were left with the creations of an authentic rockstar. 

Mk.Gee was sure to play every track on the record, which is a welcome consideration for those that were fans of less appreciated songs like “Little Bit More” or “Breakthespell”. Rather than rely heavily on crowd verbal participation for these tracks, he leaned into the natural scene laid out before him— a swaying crowd, soaking up the vulnerability of the sound. However, for other songs, the crowd was everything, and Mk.Gee knew it. After a boisterous performance of “DNM” he snickered to himself and said “I mean I’ll play it however many times y'all want.” An eruption followed, and to that, he played the obvious crowd favorite twice more. “Candy” was a huge hit as well, and has been played multiple times at each tour stop. Yet in Dallas, the enjoyment of the audience was palpable. Mk.Gee took participation to a new level by loaning Zayne, a fan in the pit, his guitar to play a solo during the first round of “Candy”.

Half of the crowd chanted the lucky fan’s name in disbelief, the other half was too involved in their individual experience to notice, creating miniature worlds with those they came with. As the encore “Alesis” rolled over the speakers and into the mob, it was impossible to ignore how incredibly human the curation of Mk.Gee’s show was. To have so many emotions and so many reactions all enveloped in a singular room was almost too much to bear. But then, as the melody of “Alesis” came to a close, he dove into “Candy” once more.  Conducting the audience with mastery just like another instrument; reminding them to be hyper present in whatever moment he created. While some jumped and jeered others kissed and cuddled but, all to the same soundtrack.