Declan Mckenna Zeroes Tour: A post-covid synthesized- dream
I’m a bit of a music nerd. I’ve been called it multiple times by a variety of people, but I’ve struggled to take it as anything other than a compliment. However, it does come with a hefty price. The amount of money I have spent on concert tickets is incalculable (or rather more I’d prefer not to think about the debt it has put me in). But, in my opinion, live music is one of the best things you can experience. Due to the pandemic, all live events (concerts, plays, festivals etc.) were halted and I, along with many others, have been waiting restlessly for them to start up again. It seems that 2022 is the year for music - not necessarily a fresh start, but a fresh attitude to not taking it for granted.
A heavily zoomed in picture of the main man on Tuesday. |
The first concert I ever went to was Bruno Mars when I was 12 years old. It was too hot, there were three heavily intoxicated women shrieking in front of me the whole time, and it took 3 hours to get out of the car park – far from the joy that I left Declan McKenna’s gig with at Asylum (on the Hull University campus) last night. Declan Mckenna, if you’re unaware, is a British alternative/ indie artist, whose music often centres around politics, society and working-class Britain. His mash up of acoustic guitar and a synthesiser make a great basis for his working-class, politically charged lyrics; he is a significant artist for teens today.
His performance on the 10th of May was electric, any energy lost in the softer songs like ‘Emily’ or ‘Make me Your Queen’, immediately compensated by the roar of the crowd in response to the beginning of ‘Brazil’ (many hand-made signs begging for it from the beginning). Although ‘Brazil’ was incredible, my favourite song that night was ‘The Kids Don’t Wanna Come Home’ – a song about ‘being a young person in the modern world’ and wanting to ‘be part of a movement of change’ (Declan McKenna’s own words in 2017 NME interview). Not only did the crowd go insane, but preforming a song about confused kids, to a bunch of confused kids banded the entire audience together. It feels like a ghost town sometimes around here, big events neglecting us for larger cities like Manchester and London, but seeing a mass combination of young teenagers, university students, and those younger teenagers’ parents go crazy at ‘British Bombs’, made Hull feel a little bit less empty.
The main man himself said that Hull were ‘impressive’ as a crowd and I, for one, believe that is an understatement. Now that the pandemic is somewhat done with, we can only hope for more artists like this to pay us a visit. Although, the crowd that night did make me reflect on local musicians. We should support and enjoy the music we have here as local bands are the lifeblood any cities music scene and we shouldn’t take any talent for granted. 2022 is the year music gets a new attitude, and we should celebrate all of it, wherever it comes from.
Even though the main tour is over now, please check out Declan Mckenna's website for upcoming gigs, merch and links to his music!
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