The 24-year-old shared the news on his Instagram, which has a following of over 549,000. He said: “UK & Ireland, I can finally tell you all that I’m coming back next year. Pre-sale begins Wednesday 11th October at 9am. General on sale starts Friday 13th October. Pre-order WHTTB? (What Happened To The Beach) from my official store before 3pm on Tuesday 10th October to get pre-sale access. See you there, more dates soon.. X.”  

Fans of the singer were delighted with the announcement. One person said: “Just heard confetti cannons go off in my back garden”, whilst another person commented: “Can’t wait to finally hear roaring crowds in Manchester, live!”  

McKenna’s new album is set to be released on 9 February and will be this third studio album after Zeros and What Do You Think About The Car, which was released in 2017. Previous hits from the two records include “Humongous”, “The Kids Don’t Wanna Come Home”, “Beautiful Faces” and his breakout track “Brazil”, which has been certified Platinum in the UK for selling over 600,000 copies.  

“Brazil” gained traction across the world following its lyrical maturity. The song criticized FIFA for awarding the FIFA World Cup to Brazil in 2014 despite the poverty that has affected the nation. The track, which has since become a staple in McKenna’s discography, peaked on various charts across the globe – peaking at number 45 on the Japan Hot 100 and number 56 on the UK Singles chart.  

Last month, McKenna released his new single “Nothing Works”. The track has over 685,000 streams on Spotify, making it a smash hit. Listen to “Nothing Works”, below.  

McKenna, who leans into genres such as glam rock and alt-rock, will perform 14 shows across the UK beginning in March next year. Tickets for the tour can be found here.  

Tour Dates  
23.03.24 – Uni Great Hall – Cardiff  
24.03 – UEA – Norwich  
25.03 – O2 City Hall – Newcastle  
27.03 – O2 Academy – Glasgow  
29.03 – O2 Academy – Sheffield  
01.04 – Ulster Hall – Belfast  
02.04 – 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin  
05.04 – O2 Apollo – Manchester  
08.04 – De Montfort Hall – Leicester  
09.04 – Beacon – Bristol  
10.04 – The Halls – Wolverhampton  
12.04 – Alexandra Palace – London 
13.04 – Centre – Brighton  
14.04 – O2 Academy – Bournemouth  

McKenna has rescheduled four dates: one in Liverpool, two in Manchester and one in Nottingham, and has confirmed that these will now take place ahead of his rescheduled European tour that commences in May 2022.

Rescheduled shows in Liverpool, Nottingham and Manchester have been added to the front of our tour next year. For those who can’t make the new dates please head to point of purchase for returns etc, so excited to finish this tour off properly, thanks for your patience xx pic.twitter.com/tjK8TSRztA

— Declan mckenna (@DeclanMcKenna) September 29, 2021

The “Zeros” tour was initially announced in July of 2020; however, it sadly suffered the same fate as every prospective tour at the time and was postponed in February of 2021, with McKenna originally planning for the tour to run from March to May of 2021. McKenna finally embarked on the tour in August of this year, kicking off the run of shows with a performance at Junction in Cambridge.

On September 6^th, prior to the gig at Liverpool’s O2 Academy, McKenna announced via social media that one of his band members had tested positive for COVID-19, and consequently, the next two shows had to be cancelled. The tour resumed on September 9^th at the O2 Academy in Leicester, however, McKenna informed fans on September 13^th that he himself had tested positive, stating: “Although I had covid just 2 months ago, and it is largely advised not to take tests for 90 days after having covid due to potential for false positives, it’s been standard procedure among my whole team to test very regularly in the interest of safety, and one of the tests that I took has come up as positive.”

Much to the relief of fans who had booked tickets for the remainder of the tour, McKenna announced that he had tested negative on September 16^th, and was able to proceed with his show at the UEA campus in Norwich.

In other recent news, Declan McKenna has teased a possible musical collaboration with fellow UK artist Sam Fender, with McKenna telling NME in a video interview at Reading Festival; “Sam Fender and I will get in the studio at some point”. Fender joined McKenna on stage at Leeds Festival for a performance of McKenna’s hit song “Brazil”, making the prospect of a creative collaboration between the two seem even more likely.

As mentioned previously, Declan McKenna’s rescheduled tour dates will take place ahead of his EU tour in May 2022, the first of which being the Liverpool show at the O2 Academy on May 4^th. The rescheduled tour dates are listed down below. Tickets for the EU tour can be purchased here, along with any remaining tickets for the next few shows of his current UK tour.

04/05/2022- O2 Academy- Liverpool
05/05- Albert Hall- Manchester
06/05- Albert Hall- Manchester
09/05- Rock City, Nottingham

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.”

Well, somehow. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it still takes some time before we’re able to watch shows in a crowd at indoor venues again, but luckily the London-based artist has had an idea. The gig will be livestreamed and fans who buy a ticket can participate via their mobile devices. Tickets will go on sale at 5pm BST today (August 14) here. Fans from all around the world can buy tickets for the event, however there’s the chance for UK fans to purchase the album and a ticket to the concert together.

“Buzzing for you to hear what we’ve been working on!! We’ll be playing Zeros in its entirety and maybe some old tunes thrown in too!! I can’t wait to get back on the road in March but this will be the best performance of ours the internet has ever seen. Hold on to your hats!”, the “Beautiful Faces” hitmaker announced on Twitter.

I’m really excited to announce that I’m doing a one-off online show on the day Zeros is released, Friday Sept 4th, broadcast live across the globe from Lafayette in London!! Tickets on sale Friday 14 Aug from 5pm BST / 12pm ET / 9am PT https://t.co/h4vpsU7HG8 pic.twitter.com/zCT5zdevm7

— Declan McKenna (@DeclanMcKenna) August 13, 2020

Originally, “Zeros” was supposed to be released on May 15, but the date got postponed to August 21 due to the pandemic, before it got pushed back once again. But now the date is final: September 4. The album is featuring the recently released four singles “Daniel, You’re Still A Child”, “Beautiful Faces”, “The Key To Life On Earth” and “Be An Astronaut”, his latest single.

McKenna recently had to cancel his upcoming tour due to the corona crisis but figured out a way to play some shows across the UK in March and April 2021. Who knows, he might play some of his new tunes then, to make up for the online release party.

McKenna took to his social media today (March 24) to break the news, he said: “I know this will be disappointing for many of you but I have to announce that I am postponing the release of ‘Zeros’ until August 21^st, and (as many of you already figured out) cancelling my European dates in April (all tickets can be refunded at point of purchase).

Update Re: Album release/upcoming shows.

Sorry if this feels like more bad news but it’s just the wrong time, thanks for understanding xx pic.twitter.com/SVKj6wCQfH

— Declan McKenna (@DeclanMcKenna) March 24, 2020

I am going to be playing more shows later in the year and beyond so I can still see all those who had tickets and all who did not but in these uncertain times it’s going to take a second to know when works. Touring at the minute is not only unsafe but effectively impossible, plans we had in the coming months for America, Europe, many of our festival dates are now not going to happen in the lead up to the album.”

He continued: “This is not a decision I take lightly – I recorded this album in August last year, and for it to have taken a whole year to get out to the world is pretty jarring for me, but these times are exceptional and there is very little space to make this happen the way I want it to within them.”

With the weeks ahead set to be full of negativity and upsetting news, we need to find all the silver linings we can and McKenna is doing exactly that. On a brighter note, McKenna confirmed that he will still be active between now and the album’s release, and will be livestreaming a performance on Instagram tomorrow evening, Wednesday March 25, at 8pm GMT.

“On the brighter side there are a fair few more tracks to come before then and fortunately I was able to work on some incredibly exciting other projects before the situation had escalated so greatly in the UK,” he said.

Continuing, McKenna said: “So there will be more, but things are different for the time being and ill have to take a minute to adjust to figure out absolutely every piece of the puzzle. If you have any questions or just wanna hear me play some tunes, I’ll be on Instagram live tomorrow (Weds) at 8pm GMT. Stay safe and where possible, stay the fuck home.”