Fontaines D.C. and IDLES live at Glastonbury: headline sets with contrasting energies

The 2019 edition of Glastonbury was the first time that both IDLES and Fontaines D.C. had ever played on Worthy Farm. The Bristol band finally got a Park Stage slot after a decade of slogging away, while the Dublin punks were bumped up from initial bookings on tiny stages to replace Sam Fender last minute on the then-John Peel Stage (now Woodsies).

Those two sets laid the groundwork for the pair of bands to become the defining acts of the UK and Ireland’s prominent rock scene in the half decade since. It’s fitting, then, that on the first night of Glastonbury 2024, they return to the farm to headline two of its biggest stages.

Though seeming harsh on the acts’ bountiful list of crossover fans, having their sets clash would seem a savvy idea from organisers on a crowd safety level. As it is, IDLES play to a sizeable but roomy crowd on the Other Stage on Friday night, while anyone up at the Park was lucky to even get a look at Fontaines, whose crowd stretches all the way back to that area’s Ribbon Tower.

While IDLES’ set feels like a victory lap for new album TANGK and the five years of domination that followed their Glastonbury debut, Fontaines feel on the precipice of a vibrant new era, and this anticipation could well be what draws the more febrile and bustling crowd their way.

Though they have often been placed together as bands of a similar ilk, the energies and engagement of their two frontmen couldn’t be more different this evening. It only takes IDLES’ Joe Talbot a matter of moments to call for the crowd to form a wall of death and shout unreserved solidarity with Palestine. Across the rest of the show, an small inflatable small boat filled with models of migrants surfs over the crowd during their pro-immigration anthem ‘Danny Nedelko’. It later transpires that the vessel was designed by Banksy and the band were unaware of the stunt until after the show had concluded. Talbot also introduces Glastonbury to their “new national anthem” with its blunt and simple lyrical refrain: “Fuck the king.”

It’s an hour into Fontaines’ set, meanwhile, before Grian Chatten mumbles a simple “how are ya?” in between songs of introspection and moodiness. There’s energy and intensity to Chatten and his bandmates’ performance, but never posturing. While IDLES finish their set on the aforementioned ‘Danny Nedelko’ and the heavyweight ‘Rottweiler’, Fontaines play their most popular hits – ‘Boys in the Better Land’ and ‘I Love You’ – before the close, ending instead on ‘Favourite’ and ‘Starburster’ from upcoming fourth album, ROMANCE.

These two songs – the former a breezy and melodic indie anthem, the latter a neon-splattered industrial hammer-blow – point the way forwards for a band on the cusp of even bigger things, on a night that signalled the continued rule of these homegrown rock heavyweights.

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