Contrasting the ornate Victorian plaster surrounding the stage of the 3 Olympia theatre is Declan McKenna's hyper stylised glacial set design- looking like something from Radiohead's Kid A album art. As I impatiently wait for the English musician to appear, I count not one, but 5 guitars (one lap steel guitar in their midst), at least 3 types of keyboards, a xylophone, flute and more pedals than landlords in the Dáil. I know that this is going to be interesting.

Of course, the crowd is also teeming with impatient excitement - the kind of feeling that would be described as sceitimíní in a sraith phichtiúr having been suitably warmed up by WUNDERHORSE.

WUNDERHORSE are an English pandemic era band with grizzly guitar lines producing grunge infused beer garden rock, with their hit single 'Leader of the Pack' sending the crowd into a frenzy.

By the time McKenna appears on stage, his band have begun playing the opening verses to 'Sympathy' setting the scene for the alternative maestro to sashay into view, complete with a tweed suit and Thin Lizzy band shirt.

Declan McKenna at The 3Olympia Theatre 2/04/2024. Photo: Gary Ibbotson

The crowd, are hugely receptive to everything McKenna does, including the shredding of an acoustic guitar on his track 'Breath of Light'.

Other show highlights included tracks such as 'Mullholland Dinner and Wine' and debut album offering 'The Kids Don't wanna Come Home' the second of which had the crowd jumping with wild abandon and music festival-like screaming.

Of course, played towards the end of his set, and the moment everyone had been waiting for was McKenna's international super-hit 'Brazil'. The song that paved the artist's platform was released 10 years ago as a protest anthem against the abhorrent abuses in surrounding the 2014 Brazilian World Cup.

However this single received a new lease of life when it became a 2022 TikTok viral sensation, providing the backdrop needed for teenagers and young adults to share candid videos of post pandemic youth culture, many of whom were in the audience that night.

It would be easy to allow this song to be the zenith of the night (I have never witnessed such a hysterical shriek of delight from a crowd at three notes) but he didn't.

Declan McKenna at The 3Olympia Theatre 2/04/2024. Photo: Gary Ibbotson

McKenna scuttered off stage before returning for a simple encore, a solo performance on keys that saw the crowd whip out their phones. After finishing this encore McKenna left, only to return for a bigger and better finish.

The true peak of the night came about when McKenna returned for his second encore and performed his searing and angry track 'British Bombs'- an anti British imperialism song that was received all too well in Dublin, Ireland.

'British Bombs' was the crazed crescendo of the night- seeing audience members screaming and jumping in a frenzied fervour.

As audience members milled out of the Olympia Theatre, ABBA's 'Slipping Through My Fingers' played- a song McKenna is known to have covered, and provided a soothing balm for a raucous and cathartic night.

A performer who recognises the benefit of having a hit song establish your career but not control it - McKenna has used his platform to pave the way for his own unique eccentric artistry, which was on full display at his sold out Dublin show.