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An appreciation - Fontaines DC




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Fontaines DC at 1st Av the other night. They were supposed to be here in fall 2019 but canceled due to a nomination for best new band or album in Britain. 

Other successes since then including the featured quote in my end of the year sum up for 2020.   The song I quoted is: A Hero's Death with the refrain "Life ain't always empty." 

The band is a hard rock outfit from Dublin with social commentary, punkish and poetic tendencies. Clash. U2. Patti Smith. Sex Pistols. 

They played the best songs from their 1st 2 albums and what I assume are songs from their brand new album. I think the earliest are the best. Boys in a Better Land, Hurricane Laughter, Television Screens, A Hero's Death, I Don't Belong. 

The show was notable for the lack of band-to-crowd communication. Lead singer Grian Chatten's voice gave out 10 days ago and so Fontaines DC cancelled some shows. Chatten understandably saved it for the music. He prowled the stage between songs and displayed spastic energy throughout - teasing the moshpit with near-dives. 

Guitars were prominent, which always attracts me - not guitar-hero solo stylistics but cutting, loud, distorted, electric and some acoustic playing that was integral to the band's sound. The mix was drum-heavy to my ears. Happily I knew the lyrics for the best songs as I was not able to make out much of them either with or without earplugs. That's rock and roll. I wonder how it would have been had they kept the fall 2019 fate - only the 1st album out, fewer pieces in the repertoire, lead vocals less strained, a cover or two? A shorter but more intense set, I bet. A band with some great songs, verging on being a great rock band.

 

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