On the Beat: Fabulous Fontaines D.C. Omaha concert shows off world's best rock ’n’ roll band (2025)

OMAHA — The white T-shirt taped to the Slowdown wall read “Rock & Roll Died In Vain.” But the sound coming from the Slowdown stage Saturday bracingly argued otherwise.

For Fontaines D.C., the band whose name is on the T-shirts, was proving that rock ’n’ roll hadn’t passed away, in vain or otherwise, and was in fact vital and thriving.

That was my first takeaway from the Irish group that Sir Elton John has described on his Apple Music “Rocket Hour” show as "the best band out there at the moment.”

That might be a head-scratcher for some of Elton’s — shall we say — older fanbase and might not be the greatest endorsement for those who would wonder how the 77-year-old John would have a clue about who’s today’s top band.

Elton, however, is known for paying attention to contemporary music. And, from what I can tell, he’s dead on with Fontaines D.C.

The band, which took its name from the Frank Sinatra-like singer in “The Godfather” and added the initials of hits hometown Dublin City when it discovered an American group had the same name, has it all.

Singer Grian Chatten pens striking literary songs — not surprising from a group that got together through a love of poetry — that were, in their first recordings from six years ago, transformed into intense punk rock by the four instrumentalists.

Live, he’s as charismatic as they come, wearing sunglasses and a black long-sleeved sweater as he commanded the stage. And the band, augmented by some touring players, delivered the songs with flair, incorporating the elements of Brit-pop and alt-rock that made their way on “Romance,” the superb album the band released in August.

Saturday’s setlist, as would be expected was heavy on “Romance” — eight of the 19 songs came from the new album, opening with the title cut, closing the main set with a soaring “Favourite” and encoring with “I Love You” from 2022’s “Skinty Fia” bracketed between a majestic take on the acoustic rooted “In the Modern World” and the perfect closer, the jittery breakdown of “Starburster.”

That said, the set reached back to their 2019 debut for the one-two shouted post-punk punch of “Big” and “Sha Sha Sha,” churned through the goth-tinged “Roman Holiday” and scraped and buzzed through the dark “Nabokov.”

I understand that those song titles are meaningless to those who’ve never heard Fontaines D.C. But they’re very good places to start when you, I hope, get on your favorite streaming service to hear them. It’ll be well worth the time. You can thank me later.

The songs, however, meant plenty to the audience that filled the sold-out venue, going ever crazier with each number that the vast majority obviously knew.

A final observation: it was great to see Fontaines D.C. at Slowdown, a great club to see and hear music, rather than in a theater or at a festival, where they’ll most likely be playing the next time they tour the U.S.

For my money, shows in smaller, more intimate venues are almost always better than any alternative — and when you get to see one of the best bands in the world at work, like Fontaines D.C. on Saturday, the only reactions are "wow," "fabulous" and "fantastic."