After finding out about Declan last year on BBC's Sound of 2017 longlist I wanted to catch him as soon as possible before he blew up; so when I saw that he was playing in one of my favourite Birmingham small music venues (Hare & Hounds) it was an absolute no-brainer. It also didn't hurt to have this show start off my gigs of 2017.
Supporting on the night were Leeds-based band Clay. I'd not heard of them prior and I have to say I'm a little surprised and disappointed that I hadn't - I definitely need to do more research on new Indie bands/artists because bands like these should be all over my radar. Straight off the bat they had a sound that could easily fill up a much bigger space than they were playing and each of their personalities came through clearly on stage even before they each spoke. Great stage presence and good banter from the lead singer. In terms of music, they do Indie Pop pretty well and their live material translates way better than their studio. Most memorable track for me was "6AM", but all in all, they provided good vibes to kick off the night.
Following a great mix of tracks in the interval ranging from Madonna to ABBA to Dizzee Rascal; Declan and co stepped on stage full of confidence and quiet excitement and I couldn't help but feel like I was in a scene from the movie Sing Street (if you haven't seen it yet, do, it's an amazing watch). Now with my new knowledge of Declan McKenna, I only knew a few of his songs but my favourite beforehand was "Isombard" so in my head I was thinking "yeah, he'll probably finish with that". Before I could even finish thinking about the setlist, I was hearing the opening notes of "Isombard" drowned out by the crowd's cheers and being swept up by the leaping bodies. From that moment on, I knew I was in for a fun set. As the show went on the crowd only got more and more raucous and a clear divide was beginning to form in the room between the "young adults" and the "younger adults" but nonetheless as I teetered between the two I felt good energy across the room. By the end of the set, half of the crowd was jumping about on stage as party balloons floated around searching for flailing hands. Stand-out new listens for me were "Humungous" and "Paracetamol" - I can't remember the last time in the past couple years that I came across an indie artist Declan's age or to be honest of any age, with such ear-catching songwriting abilities. He's a true creative and I am absolutely buzzing for his debut album to drop this year.
Overall Rating - 7.5/10
Here are some pictures from the night...
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