You’ll be able to hear Grian Chatten earlier than you see him. Rumbling chords ring out and a pale inexperienced highlight falls on an empty stage. Simply earlier than the beginning pistol fires on Fontaines D.C.’s largest Glastonbury set thus far, the frontman waits for the applause to simmer earlier than slowly stepping right into a single beam of sunshine. His sometimes earthy vocal sounds eerily low throughout opener ‘Romance’, rasping and scratching like a glass of orange juice hitting a sore throat. Having spent his profession confounding audiences, now Chatten seeks to take action in a kilt and stomping boots; eyes fastened on a stately new period for his band.
Although the Dublin-formed five-piece have all the time sung of transformation, tonight (June 29), their songs previous and new really feel pointedly linked to a recent surge of power. Past a current collective resolution to motion a complete cyber-punk wardrobe refresh and guide repeat hair dye appointments, their music feels extra swaggering, brutal and cryptic than ever earlier than. By the point we attain ‘Starburster’, Chatten has smudged his eyeliner from dragging his palms down his face, barely hiding the vulnerability and rage inside a track that feels paying homage to a sudden panic assault.
When the band first arrived at Worthy Farm in 2019, they slogged by means of a number of rapid-fire, usually last-minute exhibits, filling in for a Sam Fender set cancellation and shock gigs. Three years later, they returned to play the career-elevating ‘Skinty Fia’ in its near-entirety, with the help of an enormous string part. This night, tracks from throughout their whole discography are given correct weight and color, exhibiting progress from their loud however extra bashful and insecure earlier days (‘Sha Sha Sha’, an ever-muscular ‘Boys In The Higher Land’) by means of to the near-intimidatingly assured act we see on stage now.
Skipping in circles round his mic as if it’s a maypole, Chatten storms by means of a breathless ‘Televised Thoughts’, inspiring Fontaines D.C. soccer chants from the packed Park Stage crowd. The remainder of the band are additionally heroically, if extra subtly dedicated to the melodrama: guitarists Carlos O’Connell and Conor Curley by no means flinch from large musical climaxes (‘Massive Shot’, ‘Nabakov’), whereas drummer Tom Coll and bassist Conor ‘Deego’ Deegan carry the rhythm part by means of an assault course of sudden shifts in tempo and depth.
It’s the viewers who carry surprising moments of levity. Flares, bubble weapons and fistfuls of confetti fill the sky, nevertheless it’s a mighty singalong to ‘I Love You’ – a track that traverses generational trauma and points affecting the fashionable Irish diaspora – that brings everybody collectively. Tears are shed and vocal cords strained, sure, however there’s a shared understanding that there could also be youngsters right here experiencing the complete guts and efficiency of guitar music for the primary time, as nicely many older followers feeling reinvigorated by this emotional spectacle.
Chatten, as ever, barely utters a phrase of stage chat, speaking as an alternative by means of a quiet tenacity. “But when there was lightning in me / You’d know who it was for,” he bellows throughout new single ‘Favorite’, aiming for the center and hitting the bullseye.
Fontaines D.C. Glastonbury setlist was:
‘Romance’
‘Jackie Down The Line’
‘Televised Thoughts’
‘Roman Vacation’
‘Massive Shot’
‘Chequeless Reckless’
‘A Hero’s Dying’
‘Massive’
‘Nabokov’
‘How Chilly Love Is’
‘A Lucid Dream’
‘Sha Sha Sha’
‘Boys In The Higher Land’
‘I Love You’
‘Favorite’
‘Starburster’
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