Fontaines D.C. cancel Seattle show due to illness

Fontaines D.C. have cancelled a show in Seattle due to frontman Grian Chatten becoming ill.

• READ MORE: At home with Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten: “Our personality is bigger than the sound that we make”

The band were due to commence their US tour yesterday (September 20), following the release of their latest album ‘Romance‘ last month. They planned to kick off in Seattle, before making stops in major cities across North America including Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Brooklyn and more.

The tour will wrap up on October 20 in Philadelphia, PA. NYC indie rockers and NME Cover alumnus Been Stellar are serving as opening support on all dates. You can visit here to purchase any remaining tickets.

However, the band’s opening night was cancelled after Chatten revealed he had “come down with some kind of flu” that was impacting his voice.

In a statement shared to Twitter/X, the frontman wrote: Probably picked it up on the flight over here. Despite the rest and medication, I am still not in a position to play tonight without risking vocal injury.”

He continued, saying he was “extremely sorry” to cancel their planned performance in Seattle: “one of my favourite cities in the world”.

“Please accept my sincere apologies,” he said.

I’m extremely sorry to have to cancel this evening’s performance at Showbox SoDo in Seattle – one of my favourite cities in the world. Please accept my sincere apologies. Grian.

— Fontaines D.C. (@fontainesdublin) September 20, 2024

Fontaines D.C.’s latest album, ‘Romance’, was released last month (August 23) and marked their first LP under their new label home XL Recordings. In a glowing five-star review of the James Ford-produced record, NME shared: “‘Romance’ offers moments of wonder and gravity while also feeling occasionally foreboding.”

With the direction of the album, the band were clear that they wanted to implement a distinct move away from the rockier sound on their debut album, ‘Dogrel’.

Speaking to NME about the new record and explaining what the members were hoping to achieve, Chatten recalled how they actively wanted to surprise fans with their new direction.

“To be creatively understood by too many people feels like flies settling all over your clothes and all over your face. Every now and again you have to fucking shake them off, just to see who you are again. That’s what we wanted to do,” he said.

“We spoke a lot about visual references, films and stuff like that. I’m not even messing, but we used to speak about: ‘What kind of weather is it in this song?’ We could meet on a plain that didn’t have anything to do with music, arrangements or instruments. It’s more about abstractly getting to the right place. I think it’s more interesting to work in that way because you’re at less danger of sounding contrived or unoriginal.”

He went on to expand on the band’s new sound, and on comparisons to ‘KoRn’ and ‘cyberpunk’, which fits in with the band’s changing, more broodier aesthetic.

Chatten added: “Some of the music is exaggerated in that sense. The colours that I hear in the music are not colours that you’d find in nature. The songs sound neon and ridiculous. In order to communicate that idea thoroughly, I didn’t want to go out on stage dressed the same as I was for ‘Dogrel’ or whatever. I wanted to put the audience in the right mindset to render them sensitive to the message we were trying to convey.”

Later this year, Chatten and co. will embark on their 2024 UK and Ireland headline tour, which is set to take place in November and December. That stint includes two nights at Alexandra Palace in the capital.

The group also recently unveiled news of a huge outdoor show at London’s Finsbury Park, due to take place on Saturday July 5, 2025. It will mark the Irish band’s biggest headline performance to date, with support coming from Amyl And The Sniffers and Kneecap. Find remaining tickets to their shows here.

In other news, the band recently said that they “couldn’t really give a shit” about the Oasis reunion. Carlos O’Connell and Conor Deegan III shared their stance during an interview with Studio Brussel, with O’Connell saying: “I couldn’t really give a shit, to be honest,” when asked if he was excited about Liam and Noel Gallagher getting back together.

Deegan added: “I’m not excited about it either, to be honest. I feel like we get caught in the last era – like the ’10s – and into such a nostalgic thing that we’re forgetting to make new things.

Liam later reacted, taking to X/Twitter to respond to a fan who asked if the band would be considered as an opening act for the Oasis tour. “Fuck them little spunkbubbles I’ve seen better dressed ROADIES,” he said.

“They look like a shit EMF,” he added in a separate tweet, as well as responding to another fan who forwarded a clip from the interview over. “State of em,” he wrote.