Mac McCaughan + The Non-Believers
May 6, 2016
BSP Kingston
Kingston, NY
The first All Magazine road trip (coverage of which you will find in our next issue) was to see
Mac McCaughan + The Non-Believers almost a year to the day from our previous chance to see
them play (https://www.joomag.com/mag/0602939001432080303?page=26 ) and as always, the
band delivered a great show.
From the opening notes of “Lost Again,” to the mind blowing show ending cover of the GG
Allin classic “Don’t Talk to Me” which featured a guitar-less Mac (yes, I said guitar-less)
jumping up, down and into the pit, showing off his best rock star moves. (Sorry kids, no pit
pictures, I was so caught off-guard that by the time I reacted with the camera he was already
humping the stage)
The show featured a good mixture of songs from Mac’s excellent solo debut “Non-Believers”
(https://www.joomag.com/mag/0602939001432080303?page=38 ), some Superchunk, a few
from Portastatic and even a brand new number entitled “Seasonal Order.”
They even played the song I swear will be a hit single one day, “Barely There” which, thanks to
Mac & Merge records, you can see the performance of in the attached video.
One of the high points of the evening, for lack of a better way to describe it, was when Mac led
the audience in what felt like an old-fashioned Hootenanny. He played 6 songs, accompanied by
just his guitar, his voice and the audience singing along. Heck, he even took requests.
If an opportunity to see this band comes your way, SEE THEM! One doesn’t know how many
more chances we may get, and who knows if somebody recorded one of these shows for
posterity (and the fans who couldn’t make it out to one). But who knows, maybe if we’re lucky a
live recording of one of these shows might be released in the future.
-Johnny Spice