Fontaines DC at The Stone Pony 10/5/22
Back in April, Fontaines D.C. postponed their Asbury Park gig, blaming it on lead singer Grian Chatten’s inability to sing that night. The postponement came about three hours before show time, so that one stung. Recovering quickly, I scarfed up a ticket for their show at Brooklyn Steel a couple nights later, and it was an awesome show, as I recapped in my review.
Fontaines D.C. said they’d be back, and would make good on the postponement, which they moved from the Wonderbar over to The Stone Pony, the place you want to play in Asbury Park.
I’d been counting the days since April, and held onto my tickets like they were the Golden Tickets from Willy Wonka. I passed up tickets for The Pixies (The Pixies!) that same night at Terminal 5. I passed up Toad The Wet Sprocket in my backyard in Red Bank. And there were half a dozen other shows calling my wallet. But, nope, I was gonna go see Fontaines D.C., in Asbury Park, just like I was gonna do in April.
It was worth the wait. Fontaines D.C. crushed the place. Grian Chatten got himself all lathered up, and seriously delivered, as they say, the gutsy, punchy lyrics that comprise the Fontaines’ in-your-face style. He jumped all over the equipment on stage, and basically defied the crowd not to worship him. And they did.
Fontaines D.C. played a great set, heavy on cuts from their most recent album, Skinty Fia, and including some of their classics like Hurricane Laughter, Too Real, Televised Mind, and A Hero’s Death. They also played some softer stuff, like I Don’t Belong and How Cold Love is. Their encore was I Love You, which went over great with the crowd. You can hear a few clips from the show here.
I was hoping for Boys In The Better Land, and maybe Big, but it was hard to complain about the set they played.
It’s funny — I thought the sound from the guitars was a bit muddy, and I blamed it on the acoustics or the sound engineers. The drums came through loud and clear, as did the vocals. But when I got home and listened to the clips I caught on my good old (prehistoric) iPhone X, the whole thing sounded clear as a bell. Maybe my iPhone X has better ears than the ones sticking out of my feeble head.
The Pixies will just have to wait their turn.
Opening for Fontaines D.C. was a UK band, Wunderhorse, and they were pretty solid. They started off kind of mellow, a bit like DIIV, with a heavier dose of wah-wah pedals. But they amped it up pretty loud, and overall delivered a great, short set. You can hear a few snippets here. Front man Jacob Slater has every bit of passion as Grian Chatten, and his guitar belts out all the emotions coming its way.