FONTAINES D.C. – Les Nuits Botanique Festival, Brussels – 4 May 2018

Last March Turn Up The Volume discovered this up and strongly coming Irish gang FONTAINES D.C. with the release of their hair-risings single Chequeless Reckless.
A paranoid post-punk-punch activated by manic drums and resounding guitars while singer Grian Chatten spitting and sneering in a frenzied Mark E. Smith way, word by word, syllable by syllable. So I was pretty curious to see if these outspoken youngsters could translate their rip-roaring grit and grinta on a podium. Oh my, oh my! This mean Dublin machine rumbled, thundered and stormed like a relentless sonic tornado. They nailed it big time in a dazzling 35-minute set, getting big compliments afterwards from the two mind-splitting headliners of the night, punk madmen Idles and metallic monsters Metz. Trust me, Fontaines D.C.‘s future looks pretty ace! Their hammering in-your-face drones activate your limbs instantly while young, agitated and charismatic frontman Grian Chatten is the magnetic eye-catcher in the middle. His body language and physical looks reminded me (and many other spectators) of – YES – the late, great icon Ian Curtis . Highly intriguing and irresistibly hypnotic. I guess you get the picture by now. This is a band for the future. Tremendously exciting and cuttingly outspoken. The following two smacks will definitely convince you why I’m going totally euphoric about this gloriously explosive turbo…

CHEQUELESS RECKLESS

BOYS IN THE BETTERLAND

Picture this…

Genuine grinta and grit…

Thunderous electricity…

Setlist…

FONTAINES D.C. Facebook – Twitter

(pics by JL/Turn Up The Volume!)