Mk.gee is the latest guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed ‘Alesis’ and ‘ROCKMAN’. Watch the performances below.
In the variety show’s latest episode, hosted by comedian Bill Burr, Mk.gee played the two tracks – one taken from his 2024 album ‘Two Star and the Dream Police’, the other a non-album single released in recent weeks – while backed by his live band.
The multi-instrumentalist has enjoyed propulsive traction since the release of his debut album in February – yet, his career already began with co-signs from Frank Ocean and collaborations with Dijon and Omar Apollo since his 2020 EP ‘A Museum of Contradiction’.
Earlier this year, Mk.gee made his live television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live with a performance of ‘Are You Looking Up’. Watch the two SNL performance clips below.
In recent months, Mk.gee has also been praised by Eric Clapton, who told YouTuber The Real Music Observer that his music “sits in a bit of a pop category for me,” and that “it’s unique. He has found things to do on the guitar that are like nobody else.”
Clapton also compared Mk.gee’s guitar skills to Prince, saying “The same when I first saw Prince, it was like we’re safe. Just to know it’s there is enough”.
NME attended the first night of Mk.gee’s recent three-day residency at the Electric Brixton. “Mk.gee’s performance feels like a gathering — an almost religious experience, a shared moment of reverence in rhythm,” NME‘s Naz Hamdi wrote.
“It’s as though everyone is tuned into a deeper frequency, meditatively drawn together by the soulful riffs, wind-chime-esque keys, and hypnotic drums of songs like ‘How many miles’ and ‘I Want’.”
“Each note struck in both songs feels like a call to something personal yet collective, and the music is reminiscent of a church congregation – each time Mk.gee performs, he builds up the track by adding each instrument one at a time instead of compiling everything at once.”
His live shows have also proven to be thoroughly unpredictable – in recent tour dates, Mk.gee performed covers of Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and Andrea Bocelli’s ‘Time To Say Goodbye’, and he also played ‘DNM’ 12 times in one setlist.