Hypnotic punk poetry
If something characterizes a large part of today’s youth, it is the feeling of not belonging anywhere in a world that spins too quickly, with a horizon marked by uncertainty, constant social changes and a network of increasingly complex relationships, especially with oneself.
Born in Dublin, Fontaines DC explores these collective generational traumas from a deeply personal and visceral perspective. A band that arises from the love of poetry cannot but create music that invites introspection and analysis of the world around us.
On Thursday, August 13, the historic Citadel of Pamplona hosted the Irish group and its post-punk poetry, an event highly anticipated by national fans that finally hung up the sold out sign.
After ten o’clock the band came out on stage to open fire with “Boys in the Better Land”, a raw and unfiltered portrait of Irish society, taken from their debut album “Dogrel” (2019), with which they became known. With the second song, “Here’s the thing”, the group took a direct time jump to the other end of their discography: “Romance” (2024), an album with which they achieved international fame and which evolves towards sound textures from the early nineties, such as grunge or shoegaze, exploring a broader emotional map. The initial intensity gave way to a section where the band subtly lowered the beats with songs like “Jackie down the line”, “Televised mind” or “Roman Holiday”, with powerful lyrics and slower, darker sounds.
One of the most special moments of the night came with “It’s Amazing to be young”, endowed with a deeply nostalgic atmosphere that faces wear and tear and hope: “It’s the cost that brings you down / But it’s amazing to be young.”
The Irish not only reviewed the essential songs that have defined their four studio albums, but also gave the audience two unreleased songs: “Marianne”, at the beginning of the concert, and “Six Shot Morning”, a song featuring the enveloping use of synthesizers with which they returned to the stage after a brief pause prior to the final stretch. An adrenaline-charged finale with “Starbuster”, one of the group’s most complex songs. In it, Grian Chatten’s particular vocal technique—which often plays with spoken word—merged perfectly with a dark and magnetic electronic base.
In a few words and with a minimalist staging featuring light effects, Fontaines DC He managed to fill the stage with an absolutely impeccable sound that managed to hypnotize everyone present in the Pamplona fortress.
