[ATTENDED: April 22, 2022] Fontaines D.C.
I saw Fontaines D.C. in September of 2019 just as they were getting a buzz about them. The show was sold out and crowded. And, it turns out people knew them very very well. And they wanted to dance.
Johnny Brenda’s does really lend itself to that and when one guy took exception, he started to get really rough. It was not a great experience. So I wanted to see them again, to cleanse my palette.
Fontaines have to be the most disaffected band that ever existed. Not an expression on any of them. They seem like they are disgusted with everyone there. And lead singer Grian Chatten feels simultaneously like he is not there and is the only thing there.
He often seems like he’s in his own world and then he seems to focus on the audience and consumes everyone.
Having said all that, the band was in fine form playing a mix of older songs and a bunch of new ones from their soon to be released new album Skinty Fia.
Obviously the older songs were the biggest crowd pleasers as we spoke/shouted along to Sha Sha Sha and Televised Mind. But the new song “Jackie Down the Line” has been played enough that everyone knew it very well.
There was a lot of pushing and shoving–to be expected with this punk crew. And eventually there was even crowd surfing (dangerous in a venue with maybe ten foot ceilings. At one point it looked like Chatten was going to try to come into the crowd, but he never did.
The two final songs, “Big” and “Boys in a Better Land” got the crowd insane–they are both big rocking numbers that invite a lot of singing and dancing along. By that time I had moved many many many people away from the stage to let them have it.
There were three encores on the set list, which had been performed at the previous show. Indeed, earlier in the day, Fontaines played a Free at Noon and they did play all three of these songs. But the band cancelled the next few shows because of Chatten’s laryngitis. So I guess he didn’t feel up to those last three songs.
I enjoyed the show for sure, but it may have been overhyped in my head.
| 2022 | 2019 |
| A Hero’s Death ⊗ | Television Screens ¶ |
| Sha Sha Sha ¶ | Hurricane Laughter ¶ |
| Jackie Down the Line µ | Sha Sha Sha ¶ |
| I Don’t Belong ⊗ | The Lotts ¶ |
| You Said ⊗ | Liberty Belle ¶ |
| Roman Holiday µ | Roy’s Tune ¶ |
| Chequeless Reckless ¶ | Too Real ¶ |
| Televised Mind ⊗ | Televised Mind ⊗ |
| I Love You µ | Chequeless Reckless ¶ |
| Too Real ¶ | Boys in a Better Land ¶ |
| Roy’s Tune ¶ | Big ¶ |
| Skinty Fia µ | |
| Big ¶ | |
| Boys in a Better Land ¶ |
2022 encore listed but not played:
Lucid Dream ⊗
Hurricane Laughter ¶
Nabokov µ
¶ Dogrel
⊗ A Hero’s Death
µ Skinty Fia
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