Fontaines DC review, Glastonbury 2024: Magnetic post-punks capture the feeling of the nation

If ever a band captured the feeling of the nation, Fontaines DC have done it. And they’re not even British. The Irish quintet are angry and want you to know about it. If you’re angry too, so much the better.

This all-conquering post-punk band brought snarling vocals and thrashing guitars to this late-night set. In return they drew a huge crowd to this relative backwater — and it surely cannot be long before they’re on a larger stage.

Grian Chatten is a fascinating frontman. Not for him the pleasantries of asking the crowd how they’re doing; he finishes one song, wanders around for a moment and moves to the next with no fuss.

He is magnetic, though, as his way of performing — typically wrapping both hands around the microphone and talk-singing incredibly close to it — fosters a real intimacy with a crowd, no matter how big.

Fontaines DC (which stands for Dublin City) have defied the time in which they live by becoming big as a young guitar band that can stir a crowd just as much as a glossy pop star.

Unlike so many performers today they are essentially a live act, having honed their craft in clubs and theatres, that happens to occasionally frequent a recording studio.

Televised Mind, in which Chatten evokes memories of Johnny Rotten’s anger, got the audience moving and they didn’t stop swaying or banging their heads until midnight.

The biggest cheer from a pumped-up crowd came for their biggest hit to date, Boys in the Better Land.

A word for drummer Tom Coll, who not only went topless on a chilly outpost, but whose deceptively simple percussion provides the ideal platform for Carlos O’Connell and Conor Curley to do some really sophisticated guitar work.

Before they played Favourite, a single off their forthcoming album, Chatten moodily asked “How are you doing?” As soon as the crowd made the slightest sound, he snapped back with “Shut up.”

It is a proper tune though, so don’t be surprised if the record (like its predecessor) goes to No 1 when it is released in August.

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