Declan McKenna has revealed plans for several “live and intimate” concerts across the UK before his appearances at Reading & Leeds 2026. Full information can be found below.
The singer and songwriter will visit four smaller independent venues across Scotland and England this month. These performances will be his first UK headline concerts in two years.
McKenna released his latest record, ‘What Happened To The Beach?’, in 2024 and said he was “so buzzing” to announce the dates. “It’s gonna be loud, live and intimate, and we’re even hitting some places I’ve never been to,” he added. “This one’s gonna be electric!⚡️.”
The short run will open at An Seòmar in Inverness on August 20. McKenna will then travel to Music Hall in Dundee, The Georgian Theatre in Stockton-on-Tees and Sugarmill in Stoke.
McKenna will perform at Reading Festival on Friday, August 28, followed by an appearance at Leeds on Saturday, August 29. Both sets will happen on the festivals’ recently redesigned main stage, which has been renamed ‘The Grid’.
General ticket sales for McKenna’s small UK tour will open at 10am BST this Friday. Tickets can be purchased here.
AUGUST:
20 – An Seòmar, Inverness
21 – Music Hall, Dundee
23 – The Georgian Theatre, Stockton-on-Tees
24 – Sugarmill, Stoke
McKenna joins a Reading & Leeds lineup led by Florence + The Machine, Fontaines D.C., Dave, Charli XCX, RAYE and Chase & Status. Kasabian will also become the festival’s first Thursday evening headliner with an exclusive performance at Leeds.
A press statement confirmed that McKenna is currently developing new material. In October 2024, he followed ‘What Happened To The Beach?’ with the double A side release ‘Champagne’ and ‘That’s Life’.
“‘Champagne’ and ‘That’s Life’ have come together in the last few months as the first finished tracks produced with my good friend Jules [Apollinaire],” he explained at the time. “They are old ideas that started to come to life while I was messing around with them in my new studio.”
Giving McKenna’s latest album four stars, NME wrote: “On ‘What Happened To The Beach?’, perfectionism is released to make space to revel in creativity, resulting in a truly joyful effort.”
During an NME interview published alongside the album, McKenna described its creation as “quite empowering”, adding: “[It] has made me feel like I’m capable of executing different kinds of songs.
“I see every album of mine as an opportunity to make something that I’m proud of, as well as an opportunity to learn from different people along the way. I followed a dramatically different process to what I have done before, but it allowed me to absorb new methods from the musicians around me.”
Last month, Declan McKenna supported Imagine Dragons during their concert at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Elsewhere, the musician joined a choir of well known artists featured on War Child’s ‘Help(2)’ charity album earlier this year. The project was recently named among the shortlisted releases for the Mercury Prize.
"This one’s gonna be electric!"
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