For those unfamiliar with Declan McKenna, the opening moments of his headline show at O2 Academy Brixton told you everything you needed to know about the Gen Z star.
With The Beatles’ Woodstock-era anthem of togetherness, “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” as his entrance music, McKenna ran onstage and launched into the sunshine indie-pop of “Beautiful Faces”.
The crowd-riling track was built for big rooms like this and McKenna was a swaggering, guitar-shredding star in the spotlight. A burst of purple confetti at the end of the song underlined his arena ambitions.
He has previously described that song as “a brave new anthem for doomed youth” and, like most of his music, the song tackles coming-of-age in times like these. Lyrically, it’s a dejected cry for help, but live and sung by 5,000 like-minded people, it became a defiant celebration. Together, McKenna wants this generation to feel unstoppable.
The 22-year-old takes influences from across the catalogue of rock ’n’ roll. His 2017 debut album What Do You Think About The Car? is an indie-rock soundtrack to teenage angst while 2020’s Zeros is more glam but just as grounded in the real world. Across both, he creates festival-ready anthems about environmental disasters, war crimes and turbulent mental health.
That doesn’t mean he can’t have a good time though.
Backed by a four-piece band and decked out in glitter war paint, McKenna delivered the funk-driven “Rapture” with unwavering confidence. An over-the-top stadium-shaking song about the end of the world, it sounded like Muse for millennials.
Elsewhere “Emily” was a mushy, heartbroken number that saw the room lit by mobile phones and four huge glitter balls, while the lush, 70s-inspired “Listen To Your Friends” soon turned into a thunderous spoken-word rant about Government cuts.
There wasn’t a dud moment across the 90-minute set. Breakout single “Brazil”, written when McKenna was just 15, sounded as exciting as it ever has, before “British Bombs” closed out the night in furious fashion.
There aren’t many musicians who can make a relatable song about the industrial arms trade but channelling his own outrage, McKenna was an inspiring, empowering force.
With 5,000 people feeling exactly the same, it was a powerful display of compassion and the desire for change led by the unwavering voice of a generation. The future feels a little brighter.
