MUSIC PREMIERES
You may have seen that meme about how slapping a ‘Directed by David Lynch’ sticker on your window helps this bewildering world make a little more sense. It’s that same prism that Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. view the shitshow through. Arriving to their take on ‘In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)’ from Eraserhead mashed up with a ghostly stripped-back ‘Starburster’, the band drag Finsbury Park’s 45,000-strong crowd through the screen and into the surreal.
The acid, neon and sci-fi of 2024’s ‘Romance’ is a world of its own. As Amy Taylor of support act Amyl And The Sniffers puts it, “Fontaines, especially their last album, remind me of how it feels to be alive today, which is really fucking confusing”. She points specifically to the profound ‘Modern World’ as a soundtrack to these times of horror fatigue and livestreaming atrocities.
That universe is reflected in today’s line-up and their actions – soulful, fierce and independent acts. The fight for Palestine dominates the day, not least from Kneecap (who Fontaines frontman Grian Chatten joins for the cutting polemic ‘Better Way To Live’) and it’s a cause shared by the flag-baring, freedom-calling crowd.
Fontaines are among their people. When they arrive on stage, they’ve got that something that the best bands do – they look like a gang that you want to be part of, and you can. The crowd, dressed in their Bohemian F.C. shirts, continue Fontaines’ anime street gang aesthetic, its brash colours the makeshift uniform of a subculture.
From the acidic sleaze of ‘Here’s The Thing’ through to the punky promise of ‘Boys In The Better Land’ and the recent sunset single of ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’ feeling like a warm hug at a lock-in, Fontaines are absolutely on one. Chatten stomps the runway, having grown into a fearsome frontman, while Conor ‘Deego’ Deegan III proves the cool anchor of the band, Conor Curley the mystique, Tom Coll the heartbeat, and Carlos O’Connell the wild card.
Highs come with the holler back for that stuttering refrain “Shit / Shit / Shit / Battered” on ‘Death Kink’, the gothic swamp of newbie ‘Before You I Just Forget’, and the Deftones K-hole of ‘Desire’. ‘A Hero’s Death’, ‘Big’, ‘Hurricane Laughter’, ‘Favourite’ and “that violent, ‘How do you do?’” of the stonking ‘Liberty Belle’ continue to incite mosh pits – then we hit peak Lynch.
Images of warped faces, creepy hallways and a two-headed, double-ended, red-eyed pig greet us through snowglobes. “Maybe romance is a place,” offers Chatten, returning for the encore. It is here in Finsbury Park tonight. The “selling genocide” line from ‘I Love You’ lands a sledgehammer blow when the screens declare “Israel is committing genocide, use your voice” to rapturous support, before we end on that short-sharp inhale of “momentary-blissness” with ‘Starburster’.
The show doesn’t hit the same as their dumbfounding ‘Romance’ launch at Glastonbury 2024 or the drama and theatrics of their Ally Pally show last year, but this feels more like a victory lap and proves that the band can totally lay waste to a show of this size.
Their first London show was just around the corner at The Finsbury pub to about 20 people. Now here we are. Headlining Finsbury Park has led to epic folklore gigs by the likes of Pulp, Oasis, New Order and Arctic Monkeys. They more than deserve to be listed among them. They are the most important band of this decade. They’ll headline Reading & Leeds in no time, and maybe Glastonbury needs that fallow year to take a very deep breath and prepare for a Fontaines takeover.
‘Here’s the Thing’
‘Jackie Down the Line’
‘Boys in the Better Land’
‘Televised Mind’
‘Roman Holiday’
‘It’s Amazing to Be Young’
‘Big Shot’
‘Death Kink’
‘A Hero’s Death’
‘Before You I Just Forget’
‘Motorcycle Boy’
‘Horseness Is the Whatness’
‘Big’
‘Bug’
‘Hurricane Laughter’
‘Nabokov’
‘Desire’
‘Favourite’
‘Liberty Belle’
Encore:
‘Romance’
‘In the Modern World’
‘I Love You’
‘Starburster’
MUSIC PREMIERES
KARMA, the new album from Stray Kids, takes the top spot in this week’s fan-voted music poll.
Listeners cast their votes in a Billboard poll shared Friday (Aug. 22), naming the K-pop group’s newest LP as their favorite fresh release of the week.
KARMA claimed the number one position in a week filled with new drops from Doja Cat, Laufey, and others. In a close race, KARMA edged out Doja Cat’s newest single, pulling in more than half of the votes and securing first place.
The group’s new full-length project features 11 songs, including the track “Ceremony” with STAY, all created by production team 3RACHA.
According to a press statement about the album, KARMA reflects Stray Kids’ unique perspective on destiny. “Destiny is shaped by a tangled web of choices and consequences,” it explained. “KARMA begins with this very idea, an attempt to interpret Stray Kids’ fate. Despite countless external judgments and inner conflicts, they have continued to forge their own path with unwavering resolve. Through their music, Stray Kids represent a story of growth.”
The boy group finished their biggest world tour yet, Stray Kids World Tour <dominATE>, in late July after completing 54 concerts across five continents.
Doja Cat’s “Jealous Type” followed closely behind KARMA on this week’s poll with 47% of the votes. Other new projects that placed include Laufey’s A Matter of Time, Sombr’s I Barely Know Her, Deftones’ Private Music, Offset’s KIARI, Kid Cudi’s Free, and BigXThaPlug’s I Hope You’re Happy.
See the final results of this week’s poll below.
