Fontaines D.C.
The Warfield, San Francisco
September 24, 2024
Photos by Geoffrey Smith II
Anticipation was high for Fontaines D.C. in San Francisco. Not only because over two years had passed since they headlined a show there, but also because vocalist Grian Chatten was recovering from an illness that canceled previous dates on the tour, causing many to question if the concert would even happen.
Fans took to social media, scouring posts by all involved in the event, called the venue for information, and walked past its doors during loading hours, trying to determine if the Irish rock band would actually be playing. A mid-day post by support band Been Stellar confirmed the show was a go, and fans breathed a collective sigh. Of course, there was still a torturous five or six hour wait until the actual performance.
Fans lined up early and shuffled into San Francisco’s Warfield Theater where a palpable tension hung in the humid air. Every minute seemed to drag by. Even when the show technically began there were several grueling minutes in which touring members slowly took to the dimly lit stage and began checking their gear while a backdrop unfurled.
The quiet “chk chk chk!” of maracas, chunky plucked basslines, and toy piano plinks were quickly overpowered by blasts of industrial-ish distortion and guitars as the remaining members came onstage. Screaming and clapping nearly overpowered the sound system, and without any kind of introduction or banter, Fontaines D.C. dove into the titular track of their new album, ‘Romance’.
The overall tone of ‘Romance’ had a cold and hard vibe, ending in some sludgy droning synths, which were quickly taken over by the warmth and upbeat vibe of fan favorite ‘Jackie Down the Line’.
As ‘Jackie Down the Line’ continued, I was mindful that Grian had been battling vocal-impacting illness, and listened for any hints of impairment. At the beginning of the set it did seem like he was straining, with his pitch not as sharp as it could be, and sometimes falling behind the songs in pace or volume, with inconsistent force in his delivery. Thankfully this seemed to improve over the course of the set.
From there, the band slammed through fifteen more tracks covering all four of their albums – with an emphasis on Romance, of course.
The audience became a bit less responsive towards ‘Televised Mind’ near its end, possibly due to its repetitive, almost hypnotic closing lyrics. But ‘Roman Holiday’ snapped everyone back to attention. ‘Big Shot’ provided a cooldown for fans after the faster pace of previous songs, with many opting to sway their arms overhead in time to the beat.
The brief ‘Death Kink’ brought a kind of grunge vibe that generated friendly moshing up front, ending with the middle of the crowd slowly churning in enjoyment. ‘Bug’ chilled things out again with much of the audience pogoing, and Grian’s vocals sounding the most improved, in tune, and confident of the set so far.
‘Big’ kicked off with some hard floor toms, clanky metal sounds, shredding guitars, and quickly flashing stage lights. Intense. Grian perched himself atop one of the giant speaker stacks, carried his mic stand, and roused up more energy from attendees. Lots of chorus singing ended this one.
Before the lyrics even started to ‘Sha Sha Sha’, the fans who recognized it made some attempts at crowd surfing, and the band was at its tightest performance-wise. Grian’s vocals were now forceful and clean, and the drumwork had some nice snap and thumpiness, with guitars giving some country vibes.
A brief break between songs was followed by the dimly lit, somewhat somber ‘Sundowner’ – with guitarist Conor Curley taking over primary vocal duties and Grian Chatten strapping on an acoustic guitar. The contrasting vocal style was a nice change of pace, and I’m hoping other band members continue to be more involved. This changeup allowed Grian to rest a bit.
After building up his energy, Grian unleashed on the audience with the quick, rambling, feverish lyrics of ‘A Lucid Dream’ and everyone on the floor was dragged into a swirling moshpit. And like a thrifty man trying to wring that last bit of toothpaste from the tube, the band managed to squeeze out a bit more energy from the audience with ‘So Here’s the Thing’. And while the sound got a little muddy with the convergence of the main and backing vocals and fuzzy, squealing guitars all at once, nobody seemed to mind.
‘Boys in the Better Land’ got a lot of “Hey!” shouts from the audience, before Grian incited a proper moshpit, provocatively waving at them and slapping his chest with a tambourine. ‘Favourite’ ended the main part of the show with a New Wave flavor like some kind of lost The Cure b-side track, its slower pace allowing the crowd to cool off. And then the band walked offstage.
“One more song!” and rhythmic clapping was dished out by the crowd, as you would expect. Which later turned into a chanting of “Olé, Olé, Olé!” – a common chant at Irish sporting games and now concerts – as fans waited and hoped for an encore. At most large shows I see a significant portion of the audience leave at this point, whether due to exhaustion or disinterest, regardless of how likely an encore is. I was impressed by how many stayed this night.
Our heroes returned to the stage and capped off the night with two more cuts from ‘Romance’: ‘In the Modern World’ and ‘Starburster’. The former had a lot of folks singing along to the beginning (“I feel alive, in the city….”). Synth strings, backup vocal accents and spaghetti western guitar twangs were the vibe.
Starburster, the first single off of ‘Romance’ and the one fans are most likely to know well by this point, ended the night. As soon as the lead guitarist started plucking its intro to test his guitar, a handful of people recognized what this meant. And as the synth strings kicked in, everyone knew what song was coming up, and they screamed and moshed. Romance is alive and well.
