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Setting the Stage
The fog hits first. An eagle screech splits the Grove Stage and Mk.gee steps into white light, guitar slung low. He’s a man of few words, but the crowd shouts the Dream Police hook back at him with full voice. Mid-set, he teases Cameo’s “Candy,” nods to Van Halen before “Alesis,” and loops back to “ROCKMAN” for a second, anthemic run. It’s his first Lollapalooza—and he’s closing.
How did he get here after one excellent debut album? The path runs through a live-first rollout, a deliberate pivot in sound, and DNM (Dijon n Mike)—the creative current he shares with Dijon—that rippled across the industry and finally surged onto a festival’s closing slot.
BEGINNINGS
As the music industry constantly shifts, an artist’s career is never predictable, and success can’t be calculated; the timing is often a surprise. Yet there are moments where a change is palpable—whether it’s a wave or a ripple. Right now, artists, fans, and producers alike are no strangers to the wave heralded by Michael Gordon, known as Mk.gee.
Mk.gee hit a new peak by closing out the Grove Stage at Lollapalooza, an accomplishment that adds several notches to his belt. It was his first time performing at the festival, and he was given a closing slot—no small feat. As he embarks on a mini-festival run that began in New York (Governor’s Ball), he’ll perform in Norway (Øyafestivalen) and Paris (Rock en Seine). So how exactly did he get here?
A key point many miss: the small but mighty fan base Mk.gee had before the Two Star & the Dream Police rollout even began. There’s a corner of the internet where fans track every skip and beat of certain indie, esoteric artists’ careers. In that corner, Mk.gee slowly found more listeners between A Museum of Contradiction and Two Star & the Dream Police, who patiently awaited his return. When the first singles for Two Star—“Candy” and “How Many Miles”—arrived in August 2023, the Mk.gee buzz reawakened with a new, growing fervor.
While Mk.gee started with more jazz-infused, indie bedroom-pop textures (“Fool,” “Pronounced McGee”), the pivot to his current gritty, guitar-driven sound has been heard and admired across the industry. With the release of A Museum of Contradiction (2020), he evolved: the synths felt less airy and more edged; the mood turned ominous. The beginning of his evolution was underway. With Two Star & the Dream Police (February 2024), the shift cemented. It’s moody, dark, brooding, and—as he describes it—liminal, existing in a world of its own.
The rollout favored world-building over templates. Instead of traditional lip-sync, green-screen, or white-box videos, Mk.gee opted for immersive live films that captured him playing the singles. In the “Are You Looking Up” live video, he leans out of a moving train, singing and playing a version that differs from the record—fueling fan calls for a live album. In an interview with Will Perliter (co-founder of R&R Records, the label home to Mk.gee and Dijon), he noted that much of their budget went into crafting the live-video vision—essentially a reimagining of what a music video can be. They took a chance on storytelling, and it yielded returns over time.
Word spread from Gordon’s already-built following via a slow trickle of word of mouth. The tour that followed and the live videos posted by fans and Mk.gee on YouTube began to capture wider attention. The live show became a must-see for music lovers and musicians alike. Momentum built quickly enough that a follow-up tour in fall 2024 also sold out. On that second tour—announced just months after the first ended—he teased a groovy, ’80s-leaning upbeat banger nicknamed by fans “Started a War.” Demand surged; the track dropped unexpectedly as “ROCKMAN” shortly after the tour ended. Even though Two Star & the Dream Police is only a year old, many fans are already yearning for new Mk.gee music. For now, he’s leaning more heavily into production work for other artists—something he’s no stranger to.
DNM
As influential as Mk.gee’s own artistry is, the wave he’s creating also takes root in the work he’s done with Dijon. Mk.gee likely met Dijon sometime after A Museum of Contradiction, and a legendary duo was born. Early on, when Mk.gee played for other artists, some found his style “weird,” too hard to fit into a box; he was even fired from touring gigs for not molding into the version of a guitarist they wanted. Playing with Dijon was the opposite—Dijon encouraged that weirdness, giving him the reins to let his creativity flow.
Mk.gee went on to co-produce and compose a significant portion of Dijon’s 2021 record, Absolutely, appearing in the album’s live film and joining the spring 2022 tour as a guitarist. Four years on, the buzz around what the duo built remains present and growing. The praise extends to industry peers, with many artists citing the duo as inspiration for recent releases.
Their creative current, often shorthanded by fans as DNM (Dijon N’ Mike), crystallized on Two Star & the Dream Police with the track “DNM,” which quickly became a fan favorite. It’s one of two tracks on the album with Dijon credits and has turned into a live-show bit—fans calling for it to be played twice—likely inspired by Dijon joining Mk.gee on stage to sing the song a second time during night two of a sold-out LA run in September 2024. Working together, they’ve clearly absorbed each other’s instincts, and it translates in the music. Their live energy is magnetic—a demonstration of true artistic synergy. They’ve created a soulful indie-alternative hybrid that’s taken on a life of its own—and it’s trickled down to other artists.
Dijon and Mk.gee also worked with Justin Bieber on the surprise album SWAG. It was announced in 2024 that Mk.gee was collaborating with Bieber, and in a New York Times piece, Gordon said Bieber was “searching.” When SWAG landed, Mk.gee’s production and composition work appeared on the hit “Daisies” (with Dijon credited across four other tracks and featured on “Devotion”). Their fingerprints were felt throughout—a premonition of how this wave could crash through pop music. Dijon has been covertly teasing new music as well—reportedly titled BABY—hinting that the duo’s chemistry will be back in action.
LOLLAPALOOZA
Mk.gee’s releases and collaborations culminate in the night he closes the Grove Stage. To new listeners, it might look like sudden luck; to those inside his world, it feels like the industry is getting it right and rewarding raw talent.
On a high-rise setup with Andrew Aged on guitar and Zack Sekoff on percussion, the trio builds a transportive, liminal space. Extended intros and outros keep Two Star material fresh, folding in melodic riffs, adjacent sound effects, and those signature teases—Cameo before “Candy,” Van Halen before “Alesis.” The eagle screech—heard in “ROCKMAN”—has become a symbol in its own right.
There’s extra time; “ROCKMAN” gets a victorious second pass. When Mk.gee exits, the fog and bright lighting hang for a beat, and the crowd lingers in that reflective quiet. For a moment, you’re somewhere between reality and a foggy liminal space—exactly where his music lives, and exactly why this moment at Lollapalooza lands like confirmation rather than surprise.
