GIG REVIEW: Fontaines D.C., O2 City Hall, Newcastle,
Sunday 17 October 2021
Dublin post-punks Fontaines D.C. were riding the crest of a growing wave when Covid-19 brought the music industry and much else to a grinding halt last year.
After earning lots of accolades for their 2019 debut album Dogrel (including ours), they’d just completed a sold-out headline tour of the UK.
New songs were in the process of being written, with some already appearing in their live set. And they were lined up to appear at Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary event, which surely would have sent their star even higher.
Then: lockdown. Undeterred, the five-piece pressed ahead with the release of second album A Hero’s Death at the end of July, even though they couldn’t tour it.
The record (reviewed here) showed they were no one-trick ponies, and had more in their locker than Joy Division-like intensity and The Fall-style repetition.
Now, as the world begins to return to something approaching normal, they’ve embarked on a long-overdue UK tour.
Devoted
Fontaines D.C. inspire a very special kind of devotion, and although the City Hall wasn’t quite full, they pulled a very good Sunday night crowd.
After waiting more than a year to see them play the new album live, fans lapped it up as they kicked off with the title track, and followed with A Lucid Dream.
By the time they wheeled out first album favourite Sha Sha Sha as third song, band and audience had connected.
They aren’t the most interesting band to watch, but create a great vibe. Guitarists Carlos O’ Connell and Conor Curley lay down dense riffs, while Conor Deegan III on bass and drummer Tom Coll knit it all together.
Spoken word
Frontman Grian Chatten is the only one who moves around, prowling like a caged big cat when he’s not at the mic, arms behind his back Liam Gallagher-style, or pointing and flailing, as he delivers his songs in spoken-word fashion.
There’s not a word of banter between them, and no introductions either. Chatten’s lyrics speak for him, and are chanted back at him by the devoted like some sort of mantra.
We get the odd crowd-surfer, but Fontaines D.C. aren’t really that sort of band; they’re more about building a vibe, and getting lost in the music.
The first half of the set is spent building that mood with songs like early single Chequeless Reckless, and the languid I Don’t Belong.
Claustrophic
Matters take an upturn when they play the wonderfully claustrophobic Living In America from A Hero’s Death, which for me was the song of the night.
From there it’s crowd pleasers all the way. Hurricane Laughter, Too Real and Big from the first album, second album highlight Televised Mind, before an exuberant Boys In The Better Land brings matters to a close.
Except it’s not the end. Unlike last time I saw them (reviewed here), the boys now do encores, and after cheers and applause turn into football-style chants, the quintet return to the stage.
Thus we’re treated to two more songs, Roy’s Tune and debut single Liberty Belle, which inspire new levels of almost religious fervour. Then they’re gone, ready to spread the word somewhere else.
Chatten tells us in fan favourite Hurricane Laughter that ‘there is no connection available’. He couldn’t be more wrong.
