DECLAN MCKENNA // O2 ACADEMY, LEEDS
Declan McKenna brought glitter, confetti and a party to a packed out Leeds O2 Academy!
★★★★★ (5/5)
DECLAN MCKENNA PERFORMING AT LEEDS O2 ACADEMY - 20.09.2021
PICTURE BY: | CALLUM ROBINSON AT @COAST2COASTPHOTOGRAPHY
It was the first day of freshers week in Leeds and as far as ways in which to celebrate go, this gig was up there with one of the best! CMAT started the evening with a great set, coming on to the stage with a glass of wine and a huge smile. There were plenty of screams as she said hello and introduced herself to the audience. She described her experiences of uni, acknowledging that it was freshers week and how not to worry about it and just to have fun.
The up and coming Irish pop star put on a really good show, playing some of her tracks ‘Every Bottle (Is My Boyfriend)’, ‘I Don’t Really Care For You’ and finishing with ‘I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby!’ with the latter going down a treat as the crowd joined in. Definitely an artist to keep an eye on!
Next up was the brilliant Declan McKenna, you could tell the level of excitement from the crowd as every roadie who came on stage was greeted with screams thinking it was Declan. When he took to the stage the place erupted! He opened his set with ‘Beautiful Faces’, which was excellent and midway through the song, canons of confetti were fired into the air and that was the start of the party. One of the big qualities Declan possesses is bringing people together and that was evident throughout, the crowd was united in singing and dancing together throughout.
Declan has a real stage presence, constantly zipping around the stage and dancing. Having only released two albums, it feels like he’s released a lot more. Each album is full of quality and every track he played the crowd knew every word. When he played ‘Make Me Your Queen’ the crowd sang along to the chorus’ with fans on each others shoulders swaying, a real nice moment. Some of the other standouts were ‘The Key To Life On Earth’, ‘My House’ and ‘Isombard’.
As the night drew to a close, his encore set was excellent. He played ‘Why Do You Feel So Down’, the very popular ‘Brazil’ and ended on ‘British Bombs’. If you get chance to see Declan live this year, do it!
