After reaching impossible heights throughout 2016, Declan McKenna has been vastly considered one of the young musical prodigies of this century. His music is unique, deeply insightful and offers a great indication as to the direction indie and pop music is heading towards. Tonight, at his sold out show at Patterns and final night of his UK tour, this crowd certainly show just how revolutionary Declan’s music is and the reason his sound is set to take the world by storm.

Tonight’s support are Clay, a Leeds-based band who offer some nice riffs with a 1975 kind of vibe, their sound is decent, however, it perhaps borders a little too much on the predictable. Nonetheess, Clay are talented performers full of character and charisma and do act as a superb introduction to the evening. Through their bouncy riffs and tropical sounding guitars, the crowd are already invigorated with energy and are bouncing around the room, a hard task for most support acts to accomplish. The extent of the audiences excitability is evident from the second the lights dim and Declan enters the stage; as the opening notes of ‘Isombard’ play, the entire room becomes an immediate frenzy of movement. People are jumping, bouncing and crashing into one another in a way that even most metal bands I’ve seen haven't managed to achieve. The buzz throughout the room is so fulfilling that it quickly becomes clear there may be a few safety hazards tonight as the flimsy barrier guarding the stage is flung about, looking as though it may snap at any moment.

Thankfully the barrier does hold and Declan urges everyone to look out for one another in the crowd. This is only a brief moment of calm before the energy resets as ‘Bethlehem’ is played. Declan’s vocals sound great, whilst he does not have the most refined or powerful of voices, his signature raw intensity and strain is ever present, making his personality really shine through in each song. ‘Basic’ shows a nice demonstration of his variation, the high notes are reached with an equal level of emotion whilst the accompanying guitar adds a nice transient vibe to the song, before bursting into the chorus where the crowd returns to their state of delirium.

Having risen to fame in such a short period of time, Declan has only released a handful of tracks and thus showcases a fair number of unreleased songs. Each of these new tracks not only includes a refreshing twist that all fans of Declan’s music are familiar with, but each does seem to show a newer, more developed side to his music we haven't heard yet. From the crowd’s judgment at least, these songs are received incredibly well and have certainly left me excited to see how they will turn out when fully released.

Despite being full of energy and a great showman, one key issue with tonight is his stage crew. Being signed to Columbia Records, it is clear that an enormous amount of equipment and production is at Declan’s disposal and whilst that is no fault of his, in smaller venues such as this, issues quickly arise. There is an absurd number of guitar changes and a heavy reliance on the stage team which massively distracts from the show, really ruining the momentum. There were more than a few awkward silences whilst waiting for guitar transitions which could have easily been avoided. Declan even referred to this by saying “This is what they call in the biz, a shit show”, whether this was simply a joke or not, it certainly left a somewhat bitter taste in the mouth. Criticism aside though, the production team cannot go without some praise. As part of a genuine safety concern, the crew ended up being used as a reinforcement in keeping the barrier up during ‘Brazil’, which must have not only taken an enormous amount of strain, but was to the wellbeing of everyone.

As ‘Brazil’ was played, the intensity that accompanied the track was phenomenal and the crew were definitely needed in supporting the barrier! The track offered a brilliant conclusion to the evening with the audience being more than happy to chant in unity to the infectious chorus and the instrumental solos felt incredibly slick, definitely taking song of the evening.

Overall, Declan and his band put on a great show and demonstrated that he is more than deserving of his title as one of the prodigies of this generation. He is a born performer and through the continued development of his unique style it’s almost certain that Declan McKenna will become a household name in British music soon. I would highly recommend trying to get down to one of Declan’s shows sooner rather than later because I’m certain that this young musician will soon be playing stadium tours.
Ben Walker

Website: declanmckenna.net
Facebook: facebook.com/DeclanMckennaMusic
Twitter: twitter.com/declanmckenna