Declan McKenna has announced a run of ‘live and intimate’ UK headline shows, marking his first solo dates in two years. The four-date run, described by the singer-songwriter as a series of warm-up gigs, arrives ahead of his appearances at Reading & Leeds Festival 2026.
The brief tour kicks off at An Seòmar in Inverness on August 20, before heading to Dundee’s Music Hall, Stockton-on-Tees’ Georgian Theatre, and finishing at Stoke’s Sugarmill. The choice of smaller venues, including stops in cities McKenna has never previously played, reflects a deliberate return to more stripped-back performances after performances that have been dominated by festival stages and support slots.
Sharing the news, McKenna said he was “so buzzing” to get back out on the road in this format. “It’s gonna be loud, live and intimate, and we’re even hitting some places I’ve never been to,” he said. “This one’s gonna be electric!”
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McKenna released his third studio album, ‘What Happened To The Beach?’, in 2024, and has spoken about the record marking a shift in his songwriting process. In a recent interview, he described the experience as empowering, explaining that it pushed him to try different kinds of songs and to absorb new approaches from the musicians he worked alongside, differing from how he’d made music in the past.
Since then, McKenna has kept a high profile without mounting a full headline UK tour. Last month, he opened for Imagine Dragons at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, exposing his music to a considerably larger crowd than his usually smaller shows. He has also made choir and guest appearances alongside other artists in recent months.
These new dates give fans a rare chance to see McKenna in far more intimate surroundings before he returns to his festival adventures. He’s booked in for slots at both Reading and Leeds Festival 2026, alongside acts including Fontaines D.C., toward the end of August, meaning this short club run doubles as both a homecoming for the singer, but also a warm up ahead of the large crowds that wait for him at Reading and Leeds.
Tickets for the newly announced shows are available now, with fans encouraged to move quickly given the limited capacity of the venues involved!
