“The best band around at the moment” says Sir Elton John. “F**k them. I’ve seen better dressed roadies” says Liam Gallagher. Love or hate them, Fontaines DC are a happening band right now and it’s pretty impossible to ignore the latest ‘Rockstars’ to come out of Ireland. This year they received two nominations at the Grammy Awards, so promoter Ernst-Ludwig Hartz showed a nose for fame when he booked them for sure. Maybe he also thought a bit of controversy would liven things up a bit too? This is,after all, the man who just recieved a prize himself for his initiative and courage in Bonn’s cultural scene. Anyway, around 6,000 fans took advantage of the opportunity presented to see Ireland’s most happening music makers at Kunstrasen.

For a band that didn’t say much, Fontaines DC certainly seemed to have a lot to say. When I tell you that singer Grian Chatten said a mere two words between songs all evening – “Free Palestine!” then you will know the core of this evening’s politics. Even before the concert began leaflets were being handed out from the International Pro-Palestinian organization BDS outside Kunstrasen. Later onstage, The song ‘Horseness is the Whatness‘ was dedicated to the movement to free MO Chara – a rapper arrested last year in London for displaying a Hezbollah flag onstage. Tonight the synthesizer front of stage is decked out in a Palestinian flag.

When Chatten shouted out his “Free Palestine” there were of course a host of replies from his fans. I’m not a political person by nature, but there are two sides to every argument and it concerns me that many of the largely youthful audience may decide who to vote for in future elections based on what their favourite rockstar of the moment advocates. It would have perhaps been suicidal of me, when surrounded by hundreds of Fontaines fans, to remind them that the present War started because innocent Israelis were viciously attacked and murdered at – yes, a music Festival. Just like this tonight is a music Festival. Like those teenagers here tonight they just wanted good music and a good time. Taking it one stage further, does being a Fontaines DC fan mean you actually HAVE to be pro-Palestinian? Is your politics decided by your musical taste? I’m not taking sides here on the politics but rather more concerned with how future generations will make their decisions.

Having said I’m not political by nature I’ve rather got stuck on the subject, and this is supposed to be a music review, so let’s get back to the sights and sounds of the evening on a musical level. First a quick shout out to Irish post-punk support band The Sprints led by Düsseldorf resident Karla Chubb. They laid down quite a frantic adrenalin driven half-hour. I’m wondering how they plan to extend the length of their sets without anyone having a heart attack. I was also wondering if I just happened to me on an exact point of sound travel with Jack Callan’s bass drum since it seemed to thump with such a vengeance through my entire body that I was happy when a quieter number came along (which with this band wasn’t often). They have a new disc out in September which should be worth a listen – although I may need to fine tune the bass frequency on my stereo.

Back to 8 pm on the dot at Kunstrasen, and when a hundred, mostly young female, arms go waving into the air with cellphones on the ends of them, I know that Fontaines DC are stepping onto the stage. There is a vague wave from Chatten in no particular direction. As they strap on their guitars and settle behind their drums and keyboards there’s a feeling of people dressing for the office. Time for business. in this case Post-Punk Rock business. What does that term mean anyway? Exactly when did bands cease playing real punk rock and start playing post-punk rock? Was it the day EMI signed the Sex Pistols? Was Elvis Costello Punk, Pop-Punk, even Post-Punk in the early ’80’s? Indeed, were The Pogues ever really Punk? Not with a wordsmith like MacGowan at the helm surely.

Fontaines DC are certainly not on MacGowan’s writing level. A lot of the songs seem built around a couple of very short verses and a chorus refrain that repeats for minutes on end. Take ‘Boys in the Better Land’ with it’s chorus refrain:

“But the boys in the better land
You’re always talking ’bout the boys in the better land
The boys in the better land
But the boys in the better land
You’re always talking ’bout the boys in the better land
The boys in the better land”

Or ‘Too Real:

“Is it too real for ya?
Is it too real for ya?
Is it too real for ya?
Is it too real?
Is it too real for ya?
Is it too real for ya?
Is it too real for ya?
Is it too real for ya?”

I feel a bit short-changed by the lyrics. Where the Band does hit big though is attitude. Chatten spends the evening pacing round, and dancing with, his microphone stand. Taking regular runs up the back of a monitor to wave emporing arms above the masses to join in. Why doesn’t he just talk to them occasionally? I know The Gallagher brothers have proved you can be loved even when you are grim rather than grinning but I prefer that other Gallagher, Rory, who always smiled and spoke to the audience. Give them their credit though – Fontaines DC do have attitude in oodles.

They also have hard and heavy riffs. Not so much melodies as mantras. They can be tender too. Although it’s worth noting that the encore’s ‘I Love You’ was again dedicated to Mo Chara rather than a wife or girlfriend. They have power. Two keyboards which are manned by various band members during the show but who also pick up guitars to the extent that I’m sure there were four being played at one stage during a song. Carlos O’Connell seemed to be wandering around his side of the stage, sometimes even sitting on the floor. Almost like he joined in as and when it suited him. Bassist Conor Deegan III lent some vocals to colour the evening but remained grim-faced throughout. I know, it’s not my generation of Irish Rockstars. Stylistically, I was hoping to find some Phil Lynotts and found instead Liam Gallaghers. The fans were happy though. I saw painted fingernails clutching a pink cased i-phone unnerringly from 8 pm until 9:40 pm. Sometimes the stage was on her screen, mostly the heavens above it were. She didn’t care – she was too busy dancing and having a good time and there’s nothing wrong with that at a concert. Maybe she didn’t even notice the final words on Kunstrasen’s bigscreen: ‘Israel is committing genocide – use your voice’. I prefer my politics wrapped in great songs and lyrics: ‘Blowin in the Wind, Where have all the flowers gone, Give peace a chance… and get the listener hungry for knowledge, not spoonfed.

NOTE: apologies for the lack of customary good quality concert photos, but the band’s agency required the signing of a contract that was, frankly, not signable. For this reason I joined the cellphone wielding lady with the painted fingernails and her hundreds of similarly minded friends and only grabbed a couple of shots just to prove I was actually there!