{"id":610939,"date":"2026-09-01T06:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T06:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/610939\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T06:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T06:58:12","slug":"fontaines-dc-at-electric-picnic-banger-after-banger-as-headliners-pay-tribute-to-late-manager-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/610939\/","title":{"rendered":"Fontaines DC at Electric Picnic: \u2018Banger after banger\u2019 as headliners pay tribute to late manager \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fontaines DCMain Stage, Electric Picnic\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s an art to being a great headline act. When the stages get bigger, your band, no matter how gritty or raw, inevitably has to adapt. Will you bring out the (literal) fireworks to please the scaled-up crowds or lean into your authenticity, avoid gimmickry (no lighty-uppy wristbands here, please) and stay focused on the music?<\/p>\n

From playing Iveagh Gardens<\/a> just a few short years ago, the Dublin-forged band Fontaines DC<\/a> are now in the big leagues, headlining the Main Stage of Electric Picnic<\/a> on Sunday night, and these are questions the five-piece must be pondering.<\/p>\n

If there are nerves about their newfound status, there\u2019s no immediate sign of it from Grian Chatten<\/a>, their frontman. Hands outstretched \u2013 calling to mind, somewhat oddly, the statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro \u2013 Chatten lets the crowd roar in approval before Fontaines rip into a joyfully coruscating Boys in the Better Land, chased by the even better Here\u2019s the Thing, from their album Romance<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Chatten barely speaks as the songs connect, other than to carefully inject key phrases (\u201cFree Palestine\u201d being one), but the lyrics are enough to remind the Stradbally crowd of their homecoming band: during Big they jubilantly chant \u201cDublin in the rain is mine \/ a pregnant city with a Catholic mind\u201d and belt out \u201cMy childhood was small \/ But I\u2019m going to be big\u201d, the line from their 2019 song feeling like an accurate prediction. <\/p>\n

Jackie Down the Line draws another delighted response. As one fan says, sighing happily, \u201cBanger after banger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marianne, their new single from their forthcoming fifth album, Dopamine Chamber, drops early, its woozily synthy Depeche Mode<\/a>-like dreaminess a clear indicator of how far the band have evolved from their Dogrel<\/a> days. <\/p>\n

\"ElectricElectric Picnic 2026: Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC on the Main Stage on Sunday. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw \"ElectricElectric Picnic 2026: Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC on the Main Stage on Sunday. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw \"ElectricElectric Picnic 2026: Fontaines DC leave the Main Stage on Sunday. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

Fontaines have said it\u2019s a song that wouldn\u2019t have existed on the new record except for Trevor Dietz<\/a>\u2019s love of it. The spirit of their manager, who died in June<\/a>, is everywhere on stage. \u201cI love you,\u201d Chatten says, pausing for a couple of seconds. As the song I Love You begins, Chatten brings his fist up to the camera\u2019s lens. On the big screen you see his knuckles, each inked with a letter, to spell out Trev. Later he dedicates Favourite \u201cto the Dietz family\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Una Mullally: Trevor Dietz and Fontaines DC emerged in a Dublin that seems to be slipping awayOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a sense that the band are navigating new territory: through loss, but also through this new higher plane of their careers. Perhaps inevitably, there are aspects of the set that feel a bit forced. An onstage camera operator is in the band\u2019s faces a lot, so that the big screens can flash up odd close-ups, and while they appear unruffled, it\u2019s less U2\u2019s Zooropa than the impression of the band trying to dance in a ballet while still learning the steps.<\/p>\n

Chatten often moves down the catwalk that divides the crowd, but he seems more comfortable centre stage, one foot on the monitor, hands gripped around the microphone, brow game strong, as he leans into every song with deliberation rather than thinking about his stage choreography.<\/p>\n

As they end on the fantastic Starburster \u2013 probably their finest track \u2013 the screens flash up the news that Fontaines DC will play Slane Castle<\/a> in 2027. \u201cWoah,\u201d the crowd cry. But it doesn\u2019t feel like that big a surprise. Ambitious, determined and gifted, Fontaines DC can do it. They\u2019re finding their way to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fontaines DCMain Stage, Electric Picnic\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606 There\u2019s an art to being a great headline act. When the stages get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[60895,12421,93,3408,153496,61,60,235826,13081,211052],"class_list":["post-610939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-depeche-mode","tag-electric-picnic","tag-entertainment","tag-fontaines-dc","tag-grian-chatten","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-iveagh-gardens","tag-slane-castle","tag-trevor-dietz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}