Fontaines D.C. Bring Hollywood Forever Cemetery to Life
On September 25th, Fontaines D.C. transformed Hollywood Forever Cemetery into a hauntingly electric evening under the almost full moon. Surrounded by gravestones and the ghosts of Hollywood’s past, the sold-out crowd gathered on the Fairbanks lawn as Grian Chatten, Conor Curley, Carlos O’Connell, Conor Deegan III, and Tom Coll brought the cemetery to life.
There was something too fitting about Fontaines playing a cemetery. The Irish band has always carried a darkness throughout their music, but at Hollywood Forever, that darkness took on a physical form. As the audience danced, shouted, and banded their heads between graves, Chatten’s unmistakable voice echoed beyond the stage, blurring the lines between the living and the dead.
Wasting no time, they jumped in and opened with “Boys in the Better Land,” an explosive track off of their 2019 debut album Dogrel. Chatten moved around the stage with his usually detached confidence, tambourine in hand, while Curley and O’Connell’s guitars ripped through the crowd. There is a coolness to Chatten’s stage presence that doesn’t feel rehearsed. He doesn’t need long speeches between songs or constant interaction with the crowd. A simple flick of his wrist, a wave of his arm, or a sudden stare toward the sky is enough to ignite thousands of people into applause.
The Hollywood Forever cemetery also offered a preview of what’s next for Fontaine’s D.C. The band played four new songs from their upcoming album Dopamine Chamber: “Marianne,” “Happy For You,” “Six Shot Morning,” and “Tongue.” “Happy For You” was a particularly striking performance by Chatten. During its progression, he waved his arm like a conductor, guiding the audience through the song’s changes, as if he was preparing us for the strange new world Fontaines D.C. have built in Dopamine Chamber.
The setting of Hollywood Forever made the band’s darker themes feel even more fitting. Fontaines D.C. often explores themes of death, love, Irish identity, and Catholicism, all of which felt especially present during the show. “I Love You,” from Skinty Fia, stood out among the graves, with its lyrics exploring love and devotion through dark Irish Catholic imagery. Chatten dedicated “It’s Amazing to Be Young” to David Lynch, whose final resting place is just steps away from the Fairbanks Lawn where the band performed. With Lynch’s ashes buried at Hollywood Forever in January 2025, the dedication felt especially fitting for a venue so closely connected to his legacy.
For a group that has grown exponentially in recent years, Fontaines D.C. still manages to preserve their sense of mystique that made people pay attention towards the beginning of their career. That was clear throughout the night, not only in their music but in the community surrounding them. Palestinian flags were scattered throughout the crowd as fans joined together in chants of “Free Palestine,” a reminder that the band’s influence extends beyond the stage.
There was no drawn-out goodbye or excess stage banter. Chatten simply shared his message and the band let the music speak for itself. As Fontaines D.C. moves toward the release of Dopamine Chamber, they continue to walk the line between the past and the future, turning a place built around the dead into a space that felt alive with the future of music, where the living and the dead seemed to dance together.
Setlist:
Boys in the Better Land
Here’s the Thing
Nabokov
Marianne
Jackie Down the Line
It’s Amazing to Be Young (Dedicated to David Lynch)
Televised Mind
Roman Holiday
Before You I Just Forget
Big
Bug
Tongue
Happy for You
Big Shot
Favourite
In the Modern World
Six Shot Morning
I Love You
Starburster