IDLES and Fontaines D.C. in Photos at Brooklyn Steel

Somehow, I misjudged the energy of the crowd at IDLES show at Brooklyn Steel. I knew the band would be wild, but it wasn’t just a smattering of people in the front few rows that raged to their music, the moshing went dozens of rows deep. I tried to brave the crowd with my camera gear, but I let my common sense take over and mashed my way out of the crowd and up into the relative safety of the photo pit. I say relative because I still found myself packed in, this time with photographers, and had to avoid guitarist Mark “Bobo” Bowen as he went over the photographers and into the crowd.

I hadn’t seen IDLES before but came away from the show impressed by the level of rage and of irony they and their music possess. I was thrilled to see Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. for the third time as they were the openers. Their debut album Dogrel is still getting a lot of play on my stereo and seeing them at a bigger venue in front of an excitable crowd was exciting.

This month, IDLES released a brutal, darkly comic video for their song “Never Fight a Man with a Perm” while Fontaines D.C. released the video for “Sha Sha Sha” last month. Both videos are below as well as a few photos from their Brooklyn Steel show in May.

Both IDLES and Fontaines D.C. will continue to tour throughout 2019. Tour dates for Fontaines D.C. are below while IDLES shared this news in a press release: “IDLES will return to the US this summer for a main stage performance at Lollapalooza on Friday, 2 August, and again this fall for a short run of headline shows, including an 7 October show at the Wiltern in LA and an 17 October show at Terminal 5 in NYC. The band will also play their biggest headline show to date on 7 December at London’s Alexandra Palace, which sold out in just 24 hours.”

Fontaines D.C. & IDLES on May 10, 2019.

Fontaines D.C. Tour Dates

06 SEP / US / Brooklyn, NY / Music Hall Of Williamsburg
07 SEP / US / Philadelphia, PA / Johnny Brenda’s
08 SEP / US / Boston, MA / Great Scott
11 SEP / US / Washington, DC / U Street Music Hall
12 SEP / US / Columbus, OH / Ace of Cups
13 SEP / US / Toronto, ON / Horseshoe Tavern
14 SEP / US / Detroit, MI / El Club
15 SEP / US / Chicago, IL / Lincoln Hall
17 SEP / US / Minneapolis, MN / 7th Street Entry
20 SEP / US / Vancouver, BC / Fox Cabaret
21 SEP / US / Portland, OR / Mississippi Studios
24 SEP / US / San Francisco, CA / The Independent
26 SEP / US / Los Angeles, CA / Teragram Ballroom
27 SEP / US / Dana Point, CA / Ohana Festival
01 NOV / ES / Madrid / Chango
02 NOV / ES / Barcelona / Razzmatazz 3
04 NOV / DE / Cologne / Gebäude 9
05 NOV / DE / Berlin / Bi Nuu
19 NOV / UK / Manchester / O2 Ritz
20 NOV / UK / Liverpool / O2 Academy
21 NOV / UK / Glasgow / SWG 3
22 NOV / UK / Leeds / Stylus
23 NOV / UK / Sheffield / Leadmill
25 NOV / UK / Birmingham / O2 Institute
26 NOV / UK / Oxford / O2 Academy
27 NOV / UK / London / O2 Forum
28 NOV / UK / Brighton / Concorde 2
30 NOV / UK / Bristol / SWX
1 DEC / UK / Southampton / The 1865
7 DEC / IRE / Dublin / Vicar Street
8 DEC / IRE / Dublin / Vicar Street