{"id":875779,"date":"2026-08-29T12:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T12:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875779\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T12:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T12:08:12","slug":"fontaines-d-c-live-at-reading-2026-an-emotional-coronation-for-the-modern-indie-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875779\/","title":{"rendered":"Fontaines D.C. live at Reading 2026: an emotional coronation for the modern indie kings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The chilly night is drawing in and the massive crowd is growing restless with Fontaines D.C.<\/a> now half an hour late to the stage, through technical\/logistical issues it seems rather than Grian Chatten<\/a> going all Axl Rose on us. As the lights dip for a rousing intro of a mix of Lankum<\/a> \u2018Ode To Lullaby\u2019 and Luke Kelly\u2019s \u2018For What Died the Sons of Roisin\u2019 and the band arrive to burst into the effervescent \u2018Boys In The Better Land\u2019, it\u2019s plain to see that the band have been itching to get on this stage. Headlining this hallowed arena of Reading & Leeds<\/a> is where they\u2019re meant to be.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re co-headlining with Charli XCX<\/a>, quite a fitting combo given that \u2018Romance<\/a>\u2019 was the evil indie twin to her \u2018Brat\u2019 summer in the neon green musical equivalent of Barbenheimer of 2024 that saw both acts reach their long-awaited breakthroughs. For Fontaines, that peaked with a huge show to 40,000 fans at Finsbury Park<\/a>. Their comeback for fifth album \u2018Dopamine Chamber<\/a>\u2019 could only be something as monumental as this.<\/p>\n

Seizing the moment, Chatten charges down the gangway for the punk-edged \u2018Here\u2019s The Thing\u2019 before the anguish of \u2018Nabokov\u2019 nearly collapses in on itself as he bellows: \u201cWell this is what it is now, pain, pain\u201d. These aren\u2019t the \u2018365 Party Girl\u2019 bangers we were just treated to. These are anthems from the seedy underbelly of modernity, but they still don\u2019t half slap. The cinematic new single \u2018Marianne<\/a>\u2019 proves a hypnotic hit before \u2018Jackie Down The Line\u2019 makes the darkest sing-along of the day so far, but the first of many. Who can resist the fields of Reading hollering back \u201cshit, shit, shit, BATTERED\u201d on \u2018Death Kink\u2019? Fontaines have got the measure of the mindset of their generation. \u201cI don\u2019t feel anything in the modern world,\u201d offers Chatten to a crowd with arms outstretched. \u201cI don\u2019t feel bad\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FontainesFontaines D.C. live at Reading 2026. Credit: Andy Ford for NME<\/p>\n

Just as the vast sidescreens slowly rising reveal themselves, tonight\u2019s is a set of tension and release, with the whole band feeling every moment while retaining a horizontal, effortless cool. For the crying guitar wails of \u2018Skinty Fia\u2019 there\u2019s the euphoria of \u2018It\u2019s Amazing To Be Young\u2019. New number \u2018Six Shot Morning\u2019 is a synthy nightmare, bubbling with the paranoia of this digital hellscape that surrounds us (\u201cIt\u2019s you and I living for a million years, always\u201d), matching the all-out exorcism of \u2018I Love You\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you ready?\u201d asks Chatten after a particularly gnarly outing of \u2018Big Shot\u2019.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s been a hard time for us the last couple of months, and it\u2019s nice to be back here,\u201d he continues, emotional at the memory of their\u00a0late manager Trevor Dietz, who died in June<\/a>. The words \u2018Trevor Forever\u2019 are scrawled on the side of one of their guitars, and it\u2019s clear that Fontaines \u2013 waving flags for Ireland and Palestine \u2013 intend on leaving absolutely everything on this field for him and what he stood for. The following peak of \u2018Favourite\u2019 and the love it inspires could go on to be the moment of the weekend.<\/p>\n

\"FontainesFontaines D.C. live at Reading 2026. Credit: Andy Ford for NME<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry for the short set,\u201d ends Chatten before the pure anxiety explosion of the full stop of \u2018Starburster\u2019. We hear that three songs \u2013 and reportedly another never-played-before new one \u2013 were cut from the setlist due to the delay, and we envy the people at the sister site in Leeds who we assume are going to get the full Fontaines R+L headline experience as it was intended. Either way, tonight was a deserved coronation from the band of our time, even if we didn\u2019t get them in full.<\/p>\n

Fontaines D.C. played:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Boys in the Better Land\u2019
\u2018Here\u2019s the Thing\u2019
\u2018Nabokov\u2019
\u2018Marianne\u2019
\u2018Jackie Down the Line\u2019
\u2018It\u2019s Amazing to Be Young\u2019
\u2018Death Kink\u2019
\u2018Televised Mind\u2019
\u2018Roman Holiday\u2019
\u2018Before You I Just Forget\u2019
\u2018Bug\u2019
\u2018Big Shot\u2019\u2018Favourite\u2019
\u2018In the Modern World\u2019
\u2018Six Shot Morning\u2019
\u2018I Love You\u2019
\u2018Starburster\u2019<\/p>\n

\"FontainesFontaines D.C. live at Reading 2026. Credit: Andy Ford for NME<\/p>\n

Check back at NME here<\/a> for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Reading & Leeds 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The chilly night is drawing in and the massive crowd is growing restless with Fontaines D.C. now half…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,1645,341],"class_list":["post-875779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-indie","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}