Since it’s opening eight months ago, Swansea Arena has played host to a wide variety of artists and acts, and most recently to post punk heroes Fontaines D.C., as they embark on their UK and Ireland tour in celebration of their latest release ‘Skinty Fia‘, which has seen the Dublin band become one of the bands at the forefront of the genre, and cult heroes amongst the indie and alternatives scenes. So, as the rain-soaked gig-goers piled into the arena on a particularly wet and stormy night in the Welsh city, the scene was set for the Irish five-piece to impress.
Opening with the title track from their previous album, ‘A Hero’s Death‘, the band very quickly went about laying down the foundations for both a joyous and rowdy show. Frontman Grian Chatten stormed from left to right on stage and encouragingly waved his arms as a signal for those below to get involved, who of course, began to oblige without question.
Following on from their opening song came ‘Sha Sha Sha’ and ‘Television Screens’, both from the 2019 album ‘Dogrel’, these slightly older tracks helped to inspire the slightly sodden crowd, lifting the dampened spirits, and meant the crowd very quickly got in the mood for a dance. As the band began to trawl through their back catalogue, tracks such as ‘Chequeless Reckless‘ were instantly met with cheers upon the sound of the first note, and each intermission between songs was filled with chanting and applause, creating a harmonious yet rowdy sounding union between band and crowd. Many of the fan favourites from their latest work were played too, including the reflective ‘Big Shot’ , ‘How Cold Love Is’, which is all about addiction, and how the things that can make you happy, can also be so damaging, as well as the seemingly autobiographical ‘Jackie Down The Line’, with the crowd repeating every word as if it was gospel.
As the last notes of the faux-closer ‘Televised Minds’ rang out across the arena, and the band departed from the stage with nothing more than a “cheers” from Chatten, the crowd waited impatiently for the return, with two of the most popular songs yet to be played. After what many would say felt like hours, the band re-emerged from the side of the stage, opening their encore with ‘Big’, before playing the highly anticipated ‘Boys in the Better Land’, which unsurprisingly saw the largest mosh pit of the night.
Finally, the last song, ‘I Love You’, an ode to the country from which the band came, was sung between band and crowd almost like a choir, and as the band’s very own themed confetti rained down on the audience, Chatten reached for the heavens during the song’s final moments. As the song ended, the room went for silent for a fleeting moment before erupting into applause before the band thanked the crowd and departed the stage for the final time.
As massive as Fontaines D.C.’s visit to Swansea Arena felt, there should be no doubt that the best is yet to come for this band, so if you haven’t already, you should definitely be keeping track of what these boys from Dublin do next!
