Words & photography: Grace Minghella

What happened to the beach? It came to London! With the sun finally shining in the capital, it felt like the perfect day for London-born indie singer Declan Mckenna to make his Alexandra Palace debut playing one of his biggest shows to date, as Grace Minghella reports.

Upon arriving at the venue, the streets were lined with happy fans having picnics and creating amazing pre-show memories before the main act. These positive vibes didn’t stop during the show, in fact, they got even more heightened with two amazing performances from Wunderhorse and Soft Launch who did an incredible job at hyping up the crowd. The two opening acts were completely different to one another but they both did an amazing job of setting the mood and making the fans even more excited for Declan.

Declan’s set was an impressive mix of upbeat and slow songs, leaving the audience not knowing what was coming next which I thought was really original and made his performance stand out. I liked the use of confetti during the first song too which really set the mood for the rest of the night. The fans knew every word to each song as if it had been out for years and years when in reality his new album was only released about a month prior! The use of set design and lighting to enhance the performance was particularly noteworthy, complimenting his genre of music. You could feel the atmosphere of the performances before he was even on stage.

Declan McKenna’s What Happened To The Beach? is out now via Tomplicated. Declan performs at festivals across the summer including BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend at Stockwood Park on 26th May. Find your nearest date here.