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Fontaines D.C.

Dec 04, 2024 By Jimi Arundell Photography by Jimi Arundell Web Exclusive

When the album of the year polls come flying out, you can bet that Fontaines D.C..’s stunning record Romance will top many and rank highly in all the rest. The Dublin gang have always enjoyed a large degree of success, seeing all previous LPs shoot straight into the Top 10 both here and in their home country including their No. 1 title Skinty Fia. But despite the rapid acceleration they still retained that renegade spirit, enjoying widespread critical acclaim whilst maintaining a wrong side of the tracks feel.

Signing to XL was the perfect move. It’s hard to imagine another label that would have helped them achieve such creative heights whilst also reaching the masses. Following a headline slot on the Park Stage at Glastonbury, the boys from the better land are now playing arenas packed full of fans who would likely never have even heard of them when playing their smaller shows. The sort of people eager to get their hands on all the expensive merch to prove their taste and loyalty but would never think to check out a similarly scrappy no-name band at the local toilet venue. This is certainly the arrival moment for Fontaines D.C., but at what cost?

Support at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham comes from North London quartet Sorry who have previously impressed with the albums 925 and Anywhere But Here yet are still to make their major mark. They lean into their relative obscurity compared to the headliners, flanked by screens sardonically asking “Who the fuck are Sorry?”. Still, they manage to solicit a decent cheer the second the lights go out and their beats begin.

Jaded yet enthralling, there’s something addictive about Sorry’s disjointed feel which marries grunge with shoegaze and electronic-inflected indie rock. It’s no mean feat sounding at once so fresh and also totally world-weary at the same time. Their biggest hit “Starstruck” is such a killer tune and their potential is abundantly clear, they just finally need to write that hit.

Fontaines have always attracted a certain laddish element despite never really courting it, and it’s almost a surprise that the anguished Irish poet image took such a hold on the twenty-something lager louts. Having the right raw feel just as the post punk resurgence was in full swing certainly was a massive help. Now, having embraced a strange early 00s nu-metal-influenced look whilst taking their music to its most tortured edges, they’ve somehow grabbed what seems like the entire world’s attention.

And they’ve learned the secret of the spectacle too, as a curtain falls to reveal a giant inflated silver heart from the album cover floating above them as they kick off with their desperately dejected title track. But gimmicks can only take you so far and it’s the songs that count. Thankfully, they’re far from short on anthems as tonight proves

Old classics “Jackie Down the Line” prompt the expected singalong response, they tear into “Televised Mind” like never before and “Big Shot” retains its ragged and forlorn magnificence. But it is clear that the new fans are here for the new songs and “Death Kink”, “Sundowner”, “Bug” and “Here’s the Thing” raise bigger cheers than classic material like “Big”, “Too Real” and even “Boys In The Better Land”.

Singer Grian Chatten’s taciturn refusal to ever really acknowledge the audience elevates him to become a rarified icon. Even as he silently stalks back onto the stage for an encore engineered for the influx of first-time followers, the crowd are spellbound, feverishly losing their minds to “In the Modern World”, “Desire” and inevitably closing with this year’s biggest banger “Starburster”.

The Fontaines lads must be congratulated for breaking into the mainstream on their own terms and it’s certainly not easy finding that perfect balance of enjoying massive success whilst retaining an awkward outsider status. Can they remain relevant without succumbing to the temptation to totally sell out? Only time will tell.