O2 Brixton Academy, London; via MelodyVR live streamThe
Dublin band’s eerily empty livestreamed gig perfectly suits their alienated second album
Certain artists fall over themselves to embrace technological innovation. Some other bands have technological innovation thrust a little awkwardly upon them. So it is that Fontaines DC – an intense post-punk band whose oblique poetics and disdain for showbiz could easily be mistaken for passive aggression – find themselves livestreaming a show in which there is nowhere for them to hide.
The venue is London’s Brixton Academy, where this Dublin band played a rapturously received set back in February. The world was still young then. Fontaines DC’s second album, A Hero’s Death, would not be out until the summer. It had not yet been kept off the
UK No 1 album spot by a rejigged
Taylor Swift release, or chalked up 20m streams worldwide. It had not yet been nominated for a Grammy award. Back then, livestreaming was something mostly reserved for gamers and narcissists.