The booming voice of Luke Kelly begins Fontaines D.C.’s brixton performance. His booming voice delivering School Days Over through the PA. A message of optimism to the teenagers that fill the front ready for some visceral fun, and a message of realism for those pushing towards middle age a few metres back.

Lead singer Grian Chatten strikes a positive tone in the first song, a new one seemingly titled Life Ain’t Always Empty. And as the 5-piece launch into their set the crowd begin to move.

Not so much clinical in their delivery, the band hit out at the audience with a wall of searing power chords and dulcet vocal tones. The tracks of mercury-nominated Dogrel provide the backbone for the set, with new tracks peppered into the mix.

The band are physically sporadic, the lead singer Grian gesticulating randomly as guitarist Carlos O’Connell clambers out about three amps away from the stage throwing out fractured guitar screeches to the baying audience.

The highlights of the performance come in those songs that find a middle ground between melody and dissonance. Tracks where the nauseating guitar techniques whirl out to the sold out audience, where Grian’s vocals clamber out through jilted noise.

The performance serves as a perfect reminder of how exciting the debut album was from the band. When it came out it helped along a small reinvigoration of raw guitar music. The subject matter and tone it was going for seemed to serve as a fantastic example of the engaging elements of rock music. The content so poetic and powerful.

The bands live performance further affirms that, alongside new songs that should excite anyone that wants to see an exciting band and listen to truly rewarding music.

Find out more about the band here: www.fontainesdc.com