Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. have been picking up momentum for quite a few years now, and it’s easy to see why. Before their passport stamp was even dry, the band hit the ground running on their U.S. tour last week, playing D.C.’s 9:30 Club on Thursday before doing an afternoon set at WXPN in Philadelphia the following day and zipping across town to their sold-out show at Underground Arts, which coincided with the release of their third album, Skinty Fia.
Although Underground Arts is a repurposed bomb shelter, even the reinforced concrete bunker couldn’t contain the Irish five-piece, who took the stage with the swagger you’d expect from a band with worldwide buzz and a solid stack of tunes to back it up. The venue’s small stage and low ceilings seemed too claustrophobic for the band, who seemingly aimed to break down the walls and wind into the streets. Their next trip to the States will surely see them at bigger venues.
The same could be said of their openers—also hailing from Ireland, Dundalk’s Just Mustard opened the night with their own mix of frenetic dream pop from their forthcoming album Heart Under. Between Inhaler, Fontaines, and Just Mustard, Ireland is churning out buzz bands like Seattle in the ’90s.
Unfortunately all of this caught up with Fontaines, as Saturday it was announced that the band’s Asbury Park show would be cancelled due to lead singer Grian Chatten losing his voice, which this morning was revealed to be due to laryngitis. As the band reschedules their upcoming dates, check out our photos from this weekend’s Philly show captured by our photographer David Iskra.
JUST MUSTARD
FONTAINES D.C.
