Declan McKenna played his biggest ever headline show at Alexandra Palace on Friday night. In the wake of his latest album release (‘What Happened to the Beach?’) McKenna has travelled all over the country performing songs from all three of his albums to captivated audiences.

McKenna has been on the scene since his youth, releasing his debut album ‘What Do You Think About The Car?’ at 18, and was catapulted into fame when a single from that album went viral in 2022. ‘Brazil’ was written in 2014 about the men’s football World Cup, and its light guitar riffs and gentle vocals coupled with its poppy beat made it a globally adored hit.

His music has no one distinct sound but generally plays with the boundaries of indie-rock and synth. His lyrics consistently visit themes of capitalism, struggle, and inner conflict – reflecting his feelings at different times in his life.

McKenna’s set opened with the first single off ‘What Happened To The Beach?’, a brass-band-esque tune called ‘Sympathy’ whose building chorus and distinctive introduction excited the crowd and set the mood for the night. With everyone jumping already, McKenna moved swiftly onwards to a throwback track from his first album, ‘Why Do You Feel So Down?’, another crowd-pleaser that had the audience belting his lyrics back to him.

One thing that is markedly sparse from McKenna’s performance is his talking to the crowd. Having been to a concert of his in 2021 at Latitude Festival, he seemed considerably less chatty at Alexandra Palace. Although, this is likely symptomatic of his extensive set. Determined to showcase his new album, but also to play some of his fan favourites for listeners new and old, he ended up playing for nearly 2 hours, pushing close to the 11pm curfew.

However, I would argue that McKenna does not need discussion to interact with the crowd. His lively performances see him shredding an acoustic guitar on his knees, falling off speakers, and crawling all over the stage set up for his band. This entertaining show keeps the audience engaged and craning their necks to see more of him.

The set came to a raucous end after an encore which wrapped up with one of McKenna’s biggest hits, ‘British Bombs’, and an explosion of red streamers. The crowd went wild for him one last time as he said his thanks, and bowed out of the stage with his band.