Too Real

I had to drag myself out to the Fontaines D.C. gig last night. It was a sold out gig at The Moon and earlier I’d been for a 10 and a half mile run. It felt good to stretch my legs but it did have the knock on affect that my nose started to run in sympathy.

It was my de facto gig kemosabe Steve Dixon’s idea to go. I didn’t know the bad that much, although I had heard a track or two on 6 Music. We cycled down and stopped in the nearby Wetherspoons for a snifter cause the booze in The Moon is pretty scarce.

The venue was rammed and we got in in time to see the last four songs of the support band. For the life of me I can’t remember what they were called but they were decent in a Joy Division type of way.  Fontaines D.C took the stage soon after. The gimlet eyed looked pretty well refreshed before he took to the mike, but he was very intense and focussed. Blow me if Big Jeff wasn’t down the front! Second time I’ve seen him at a Cardiff gig this year, the first being the Orielles. You know you’ve made the right gig choice if you see Jeff there, I found out subsequently that Jeff has seen them six times, blimey!

I’m having to get used to the idea that most new bands I see these days are younger than most of my nephews, but even at this gig I was far from the oldest member of the audience. Everyone seemed to have had a couple of drinks (including me) and were having a good time. The lead singer kept pushing up at the low celling of the stage as he looked out at the crowd and gave Jeff a high five.  The band themselves are very much in the Idles/Slaves mould. Cause the band are from Ireland would be lazy to say that they had elements of the Undertones in the mix? Yeah, probably, but there was that spikey energy to them.

A great packed end to my 2018 gig campaign.