Indie-pop icon Declan Mckenna has shared footage of his one-off livestream show at London’ Lafyette. The livestream originally took place on September 4th, in celebration of the release of his second album ‘ZEROS’, which debuted on the same day. The video came as a surprise to fans, with Mckenna putting the venue online without warning, as a festive offering. “Happy Christmas everyone, thanks for all your support in 2020,” the artist wrote in the description of the upload.
In the video, McKenna and his band perform the album in entirety to an empty venue, before returning to the stage for an encore, in which he played singles such as British Bombs, Brazil, Make Me Your Queen, and Listen To Your Friends. Though only an hour long, the artist remained electric throughout, putting on a show and performing with unmatchable charisma, despite the lack of crowds. Fans reacted wildly to the surprise upload, with the comment sections flooded with comments praising the performance, as well as the artist’s charm.
ZEROS has been named one of the top album releases of 2020, with The Guardian giving it four stars, and journalist Alexis Petridis stating, ‘McKenna’s second album is in thrall to pop’s 1970s glam heroes, but his lyrics ponder today’s struggles, from the climate crisis to social media.’
When speaking of the album, McKenna detailed the evolution of his sound, stating, “I’ve been listening to a lot of old Dylan records, these really raw recordings, and really appreciating that energy. I just wanted to get in a room with a group of musicians and not get it too ‘right’. The sound to me developed in that way. There’s a lot of ’70s references, a lot of Waterboys and Crosby, Stills and Nash, but it still feels modern to me. It definitely feels like a natural progression from the first one.”
