More about: Fontaines-D.C.

Grian Chatten stands static amongst tens of hanging red roses, serving as a tasteful backdrop for the Dublin outfits first show in 2022. In the past few years we have witnessed a reprise in Fontaines D.C.; a critically-lauded and heavily-inspected band, their album Dogrel was the most fascinating debut of 2019, complete with stories of Irish boyhood, national identity troubles, late twenties gripes and a window into something greater than themselves. They shifted the dogma of modern post-punk in a way no others have since.

As a band in constant protest with their own identity, Fontaines D.C. have aged spectacularly: the majesty of Fontaines D.C. appears to be a total overhaul of their performance and stage presence. No longer a shoe-gazing rocker, Chatten has evolved into a convincing frontman, contorting his body to the fervent pulses of sound and delivering each line with more awareness of how the audience receives it. In stark contrast to their early 2020 Brixton Academy show, Fontaine’s D.C. have grown from a band of brothers into a band of performers.

Complete with a novel urgency and the knowledge of their newfound showmanship, the tension in the room as we await their appearance is veritable. In a matter of seconds, Fontaines appear on stage and erupt with zeal into ‘Too Real’, emphasising the slow burning builds and ferocious guitar swells, leaning into the track’s heavy, brash skeleton.

From the tambourine shakes of ‘Televised Mind’ (from their sophomore record A Hero's Death) to the pensive and weighted ‘I Don’t Belong’, the pacing is perfect and the LED panels behind the band carefully fluctuate to reflect the mood of each track. Each track has a rabid pace in contrast to their recorded counterpart, emphasising the malleability of the band and their acuity for live pacing.

It soon becomes apparent that we lie in the palm of Chatten’s commanding hand, even when their latest unreleased track ‘Roman Holiday’ is played, we feel as if we already know the words. Lead single from their unreleased album Skinty Fia ‘Jackie Down The Line’ is met with uproar, whilst pre-encore closer ’Boys In A Better Land’ brings the crowd to a fever pitch with it’s repeated mantra: “If you're a rock star, porn star, superstar/Doesn't matter what you are/Get yourself a good car, get out of here.”

Fontaines D.C. harbour a feeling of timelessness that can only be harnessed by the ephemera of a Friday night set-list. Chatten’s monolithic poetry stands tall amidst a curated attack of guitar stabs and spacious drums, which are no longer tethered by expectation, instead spurred on by an affinity for storytelling.

Tonight served as a tasting menu for what will be Fontaines’ third studio album Skinty Fia (translating to an Irish curse meaning ‘the damnation of the deer’), and leaves us with just enough space to want dessert, without overfilling us with a trove of unheard songs. This is the night Fontaines’ enter their purple passage, and will continue to stoke fastidious fires in their wake.

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More about: Fontaines-D.C.