On stage

11 April 2022

Band: FONTAINES D.C.
Who: Fast rising Irish post-punk-rock collective
Where: Trix venue in Antwerp, Belgium
When: 8 April 2022

Ten days ago London‘s ruthless upstarts SHAME played a hot/lukewarm/hot
show in this very same venue where Irish heroes FONTAINES D.C. attracted
1100 fans, enough for a sell-out gig, last Thursday.

After about 20 minutes the high and lows of Shame‘s performance popped up
in my mind. Very familiar with the ups and downs of the Dublin bohemians.

HIGHS

– They played 8 of their thunderous jackhammers (including Chequeless Restless,
Hurricane Laughter (brilliant), Too Real and Boys In The Better Land.)

– Probably because of performing for larger crowds frontman/songwriter Grian Chatten communicates much more than before with the audience, not that this is so important, but the enthusiastic way he did it worked infectiously.

– Yes they’re Irish but they’re part of the British post-punk rebirth along with young mavericks like Shame, Idles, Black Midi, Black Country New Road, Crows and Squid.

LOWS

– As I said they made the venue explode with 8 thunderous jackhammers,
but the 9 slow to mid-tempo songs (great on record) took out the heat of
the moment too often.

– I saw Fontaines going berserk three times over the past 4 years in small clubs
(max 200 cap.), 40-minute gigs (10 instead of 17 songs), buzzing every single second.
The more famous a band gets the longer their shows get. Mostly, not a good thing.

The singles from their upcoming third LP Skinty Fia (out 22 April)…

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FONTAINES D.C.: Instagram – Facebook

(photos by Turn Up The Volume)