Fontaines D.C. at First Direct Arena Review

With the face of sin stretched over a heart hanging above the stage, Fontaines D.C. drop the curtain and come forward with a brisk, brilliant set. A thank you here or there from frontman Grian Chatten is all that is needed from the band, who are still riding high on the Romance wave. Their recent release certainly stands tall as one of the best of the year – the best of their discography. Proof can be found on a run-through of Romance and this feeling of a new image, a wilder and art-rock-oriented style where the venomous charm of their introspective and instrumentally liberated sound comes through. It can be felt on the stage. Their time at First Direct Arena in Leeds may feel brief but the hour and a half of bold work is their best yet.  

Plenty of Romance selections are found within, but this twenty-track setlist from Fontaines D.C. does an exceptional job of blurring those new tracks into place with classics from Dogrel and A Hero’s Death. Some restraint is exercised in the inevitable hits with In the Modern World, I Love You and the rest of Mr. Bruv’s favourite TikTok hits reserved for end. It is an encore which takes some time to build to, insufficient clapping seems to be the reason why. But it is understandable. This set has many moving parts, far more than just a few lighting changes. Flashy opener Romance is still a tremendously moody piece and kicks on well into Jackie Down the Line, the distorted face on a crushed heart still beating in the background. All those transitions from Fontaines D.C., not just between the songs but in the move from decently sized venues to tens of thousands in arenas, are ambitious and well received. The unnerving heart watching over the standing section only adds to it.

What seemed like an overstep with their Finsbury Park booking has since shown a monumental read of the times from the band. There is an appetite, growing and growing, for their sharp tones of heartbreak and hope. Bits of brilliance can be heard in the likes of Death Kink and A Hero’s Death, two exceptionally played-out pieces that feel like they are building to the inevitable punch of Here’s the Thing. Those Romance singles blend right in, as do the likes of Bug and Horseness Is the Whatness, smart tracks with the tongue-in-cheek expectations of a band finding their footing as one of the finest alt-rock bands out there. You need only know the words to Starburster, the encore’s closing track, to enjoy yourself. 

The rest, for those who have not yet gotten their hands on the tempo and slicker grooves of Nabokov, is an atmospheric achievement which evolves their spot from Leeds Festival. Instrumentally sharp moments carry Fontaines D.C., as boisterous as it is exceptionally mixed. Nothing shy of incredible in those electrified punches, those moments where the distortion and whining horrors of the unknown. So beautifully written by Chatten and so truthfully evolved by Conor Curley. Fontaines D.C. has been working up this statement of intent, this collected and brutal, inward-looking experience. They shine the light on those in attendance more than a few times. Maybe romance is a place after all, though it follows them from night to night. We are left to wonder, as we did after the album was released, what romance is. There is no real answer – but finding it is all part of the charm, the journey, that Fontaines D.C. brings to the stage.