Fontaines D.C. to kick your week into high gear. Recorded from the stage at Glastonbury 2024 on June 28th and preserved for posterity by BBC 6 Music.
2024 marks ten years since Fontaines D.C. got things rolling. During that time they’ve gained a massive reputation as intense and musically adventurous while at the same time, demanding. Sounds like what music should be all about anyway. I think the problem a lot of audiences have been expressing lately is that contemporary music isn’t adventurous anymore and it’s on a kind of take-it-or-leave-it basis. Music met with ambivalence is deadly, not only to the audience but to the form in general.
It’s gratifying to know Fontaines D.C. is none of that – and perhaps it’s the Punk label that audiences can point fingers to and attribute as a way of pigeonholing. I just think of them as nice and intense and demanding and they do their job handsomely.
Music at its core is visceral – if it wasn’t, how come no one gets goosebumps or raised hairs on the backs of necks or eyes filled?
Music that comes from the heart goes directly to the heart and that’s one of the key elements putting the entire universe in order.
Face it – some concerts you go to you leave feeling like you’ve been to one big dental appointment – while others you leave feeling your life has changed and suddenly all things are possible.
All music is not all things to all people. There are some who prefer not to have their chest cavities cracked open but rather be lulled into a trance of spatial charm. And others just want to dive deep and be swallowed up by the embrace and urgency of life. Cool and very acceptable on both counts.
I would like to think of Fontaines D.C. as a band you want to take ranting with you. They are cathartic and no-nonsense and refreshing.
They occupy a warm space on my record shelf – happy to note they are collaborating with another intense love; Massive Attack.
Further evidence music is STILL in good places – just gotta know where to look.
Press Play and jump in – Fontaines D.C. will do the rest.
