Fontaines D.C. open up about “very tough year” at Roundhouse

Fontaines D.C. opened up about their “very tough year” at an intimate gig at London’s Roundhouse last night (Thursday October 15) – airing tracks to launch new album ‘Dopamine Chamber’. Check out footage, photos, the setlist and what went down below.

The band, who are due to play a series of stadium shows next summer after an upcoming arena run, announced the gig at the 3,300-capacity venue last week, with net proceeds going to the mental health charity CALM. Having previously teamed up with the suicide prevention charity to launch a special t-shirt, they’ve also released a special CD version of ‘Dopamine Chamber’ to raise money.

Much of the gig drew on the five-piece’s new album which was released at midnight, though the setlist also featured established fan favourites such as ‘Boys In the Better Land’, ‘I Love You’ and ‘Jackie Down The Line’.

Towards the end of the night, appearing to refer to the death of manager Trevor Dietz, who passed away in June, frontman Grian Chatten told the crowd: “It’s been a very tough year for us. I’d like to sing you this song.” The group then proceeded to perform ‘Favourite’, a single from their last album, 2023’s ‘Romance’.

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As usual, Fontaines kept audience interaction to a minimum, though Chatten regularly walked out to the lip of the stage to throw his hands in the air, encouraging the audience to cheer. He twice announced “Free Palestine,” which drew vocal support from the crowd. Bassist Conor ‘Deego’ Deegan III also wore a T-shirt bearing the word “Palestine” in capital letters.

Although he introduced numerous songs with the words, “This is a new one,” he made only one direct reference to ‘Dopamine Chamber’, when he explained: “We’re releasing a new album tomorrow” – prompting a huge response from the crowd. Fontaines then played moody new song ‘Happy For You’, marking its live debut.

After a false start of another new track, the elegiac ‘Japan’, Chatten joked: “Thank you very much – next song!”

Aside from that small hiccup, the new material was extremely polished, with the brooding ‘Marianne’, the lead single from ‘Dopamine Chamber’, received like an old favourite. Chatten sat at the edge of the stage for a muted rendition of ‘Where Is Gone?’, singing Rosalía’s lines as well as his own.

When Fontaines left the stage, the audience stomped and clapped for an encore. Upon their return, the band tore through ‘Six Shot Morning’ (the opener to ‘Dopamine Chamber’) and ‘I Love You’, with the latter receiving one of the biggest responses of the night.

For their closing song, a spotlight fell on Chatten and guitarist Carlos O’Connell as the latter played the keyboard and the frontman sang ‘In Heaven’, which appeared in the David Lynch film Eraserhead. This then segued into an explosive ‘Starburster’.

In a five-star review of ‘Dopamine Chamber’, NME’s Andrew Trendell wrote: “The biggest Irish band since U2 have now also secured themselves as the definitive band of this decade on ‘Dopamine Chamber’ – an extraordinary record for extraordinary times. Amidst all the hiss and the decay, Fontaines have made something pure, honest and feeling while in exhilarating motion. Now you see who they are.”

Fontaines D.C. played:

‘Boys in the Better Land’
‘Tongue’
‘Nabokov’
‘Jackie Down the Line’
‘Marianne’
‘You Miss Me’
‘Roman Holiday’
‘Bug’
‘One Man’
‘Mimesis’
‘Happy for You’
‘Big Shot’
‘Japan’
‘Favourite’
‘Where Is Gone?’
‘Six Shot Morning’
‘I Love You’
‘Starburster’ (with ‘In Heaven’ intro)

Filmed at Alexandra Palace this week, a Fontaines special of Later… With Jools Holland will air in November with the intimate set hitting via iPlayer next week.

Meanwhile, Chatten recently shared plans for the band to take a break after their scheduled tour dates with hopes to make a new solo album. “The best place we can go from here is away for a while,” he told MOJO. “Take a bit of stock, and give people a break from us, maybe for a little while, after this one.” At the same time, he said he was planning a new, “festival-ready” solo album – the follow-up to 2023’s ‘Chaos for the Fly’.

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