// Photo by Rahul Subramaniam

Post-punk band Fontaines D.C. are a long way from home. The band is beloved in their hometown of Dublin, Ireland, known for doing strings of massively popular shows in parks and gardens there. Would their success in their home country translate across the pond, so to speak? The crowd at the House of Blues in Boston on October 6 seemed to think so, even if the band itself was somewhat more reserved.

Maybe this discrepancy resulted from this show being the last date in their American tour, following the April 2022 release of their third album, Skinty Fia. Named after an obscure Gaelic swear roughly translating to “the damnation of the deer,” the album was released to critical acclaim: Reviewers praised the band’s evolution from straight-shooting post-punk to their own unique brand of Irish folk-tinged alt rock. In support of the album, the band immediately transitioned from their Europe tour to a U.S. tour – then into another Europe tour, then another U.S. tour. By the time the band finally arrived in Boston, they had been touring for nearly seven months with concerts almost every other day and only a few two-week breaks in between.

// Photo by Rahul Subramaniam

So it really wasn’t all that surprising to see the band’s general lack of energy at their Boston show, and nor could one really blame them. With the exception of vocalist Grian Chatten, most of the other band members seemed content to stand in place and play their parts with a certain blank disaffectedness — which, honestly, was not too out of line with the cold tone of their lyrics. It was then welcome that Chatten provided vitality and antics to suffice for both himself and the rest of his bandmates, frequently pacing or running in circles on stage with his microphone stand like a caged animal. His constant movement seemed to inspire a similar restlessness in the crowd, whose moshing and general debauchery grew progressively more energetic as the show continued. At times, Chatten would climb atop the speakers at the front of the stage and lean forward as if ready to dive into the crowd, a fitting end to what had likely been a soul-sucking tour schedule for him. (For better or for worse, he remained on the stage for the entirety of the show.) His vocals alternated frequently between mostly-in-tune singing and full-throated shouting, conferring a further abrasiveness to the overall performance. The rough lighting work — yellow and red are not a particularly gentle combination — and preponderance of artificial fog certainly didn’t work in the band’s favor either.

// Photo by Rahul Subramaniam

Perhaps it is to the credit of the band’s songwriting craft that their music sounded satisfying and propulsive even under these less-than-ideal circumstances. From the very beginning of their 2019 debut album, Dogrel, through their second album, A Hero’s Death, and now Skinty Fia, their music has always been characterized by a feeling of constant momentum, pervaded by an impression that the show must go on, must keep moving forward, or else. (Yes, that’s three studio albums in almost as many years, each one lauded by critics. If nothing else, the band’s relentless recording and touring work ethic seems to match their musical inclinations.) While Chatten’s lyrical tone has ranged from cryptic to mournful to outright grim, every one of Fontaines’s songs has contained this musical force, and it was present in spades in their live performances. Fast-paced songs such as “Televised Mind” and “Hurricane Laughter” felt even more frantic and jittery than on their studio release, thanks to bassist Conor Deegan’s throbbing basslines and drummer Tom Coll’s relentless attack on his cymbals, while slower pop-oriented songs such as “Jackie Down the Line” (whose title comes from an Irish slang phrase) were wonderfully melancholy without losing any of their urgency. And through their entire set, the crowd remained enraptured, gyrating and jostling and shoving with utter glee.

// Photo by Rahul Subramaniam

So ultimately, even though the world seemed to conspire against them, throwing grueling tour schedules, long international flights and sub-par staging in their way, Fontaines D.C. rose to meet the challenge and put on a largely successful and satisfying show. And considering their constant recording and touring output, in all likelihood, Boston will be seeing their uniquely Irish flavor of post-punk again very soon.

// Rahul Subramaniam ’23 is the General Manager of WHRB and a writer for Record Hospital.