Declan McKenna is Reclaiming his Indie Crown
CHICAGO, September 7th 2022
Declan Mckenna @ Metro
The first time I really listened to Declan McKenna I was on a bus on my way to the airport because of some school assignment; I was having a bad day and I tried to drown my sorrows by listening to music, as one does. I had Declan’s first big hit Brazil saved on one of my playlists, but it was just one track among a bunch of other indie-ish songs that I had saved just because they sounded cooler than most of the songs I knew. I remember that the now viral TikTok song came on shuffle and I thought to myself “Oh, how come I don’t know the words to this majestic, phenomenal, impeccable song?” (yes, those were absolutely my exact thoughts) - So I got home and memorized the lyrics to Brazil, and then to Paracetamol, and then I was officially a new fan waiting for Bethlehem to come out.
After about six to seven years of listening to his music, I was looking forward to this tour and this show probably more than I have for most concerts this year. I hadn’t had the chance to see Declan live not just because he mostly tours in the U.K., but because I myself have been living in the U.S. for less than two years, and he hadn’t been on this side of the world since around 2019. So yes, my expectations were high, and a part of me was afraid I would be disappointed. But even though I am someone that will almost always leave a venue feeling content, walking out of Metro after the Zeros tour felt like I had just been given a big, warm hug.
Although at some points I was missing some sort of interaction with the crowd coming from Declan, his music and the effect it had on his audience made up for it. The entire crowd was jumping up and down and yelling every word, even the odd spoken ones in songs like Listen To Your Friends rumbled through the room. When the tour was announced my first thought was that Metro was too small of a venue for the comeback of an act like Declan McKenna, and even though I still think it was a strange choice, the coziness and closeness of Smart Bar’s sibling made the whole experience feel a lot more intimate.
And though this tour is in support of his not-so-new album Zeros, which came out in the middle of the pandemic in 2020, the event felt more like a celebration of Declan’s career. The setlist included fan favorites from his early days as a teenager, like Why Do You Feel So Down, Make Me Your Queen, and Isombard, alongside some of his more mature sound from tracks like Rapture and Be An Astronaut.
As someone who has grown up watching Declan become the artist he is today, I am undoubtedly a little biased, but I believe Britain’s main indie boy knows what he is doing, and it will only get better and bigger from here.
