FONTAINES DC GO BACK TO CLUB LIFE AT THE STONE PONY

Fontaines D.C. have outgrown clubs here in the states, but that didn’t stop the smallest show in sometime from happening in Asbury Park at the legendary Stone Pony this week. The Irish quintet brought their no frills punk rock attitude to the 850 capacity venue and floored the crowd with 13 songs in 52 minutes and then a one song encore. While everyone would love to have had more music, no one less dissatisfied. They are firing on all cylinders right now and songs from Skinty Fia fit in perfectly with material from their first two albums live.

Grian Chatten has become quite the frontman, prowling the stage endlessly, gripping not only fans hands in the front, but their heads as well. He is a nonstop pile of energy and while he doesn’t throw the mic stand around the stage, it rarely leaves his hand and he makes you think he is going to smash it at any instant. Carlos O’Connell and Conor Curley take turns flooring you with their guitar work, while Tom Coll and Conor Deegan III hold everything together on the low end and keep the music grounded. The band have had quite the year, playing giant festivals and touring endlessly. There isn’t much rest for the band though as they were just announced to be supporting Arctic Monkeys next year in the US and I’m sure some more festivals are on the horizon for them earlier in the year.

Fontaines DC

Wunderhorse, the new project by Jacob Slater, opened the show and won the crowd over easily. While the set started fairly tame with the band getting their legs under them, by song three they were thrashing and jumping around the stage like they owned it. The 40 minute set went by in a flash and set the tone for the evening.