Last month, Fontaines D.C. released the title track from their highly anticipated new album Skinty Fia – to be released this Friday (22nd April) on Partisan Records. “Skinty Fia,” was met with international acclaim and joined the last two singles, “I Love You” and “Jackie Down The Line,” in building widespread excitement for the band’s third album. Today, the beloved Irish band – who recently took home the trophy for “Best Band In The World” at the 2022 BandLab NME Awards – released the final single to come ahead of their new album titled “Roman Holiday”.
A texturally nuanced yet intense final preview of the band’s new material ahead of Skinty Fia’s release, “Roman Holiday,” sees frontman Grian Chatten reflect on his experiences of moving to London and embracing the city as an Irish person in the local diaspora. The single sees the band delving further into the album’s poignant themes surrounding identity and belonging, with the lyrics celebrating the camaraderie found in the community of Irish people and friends that the band have found for themselves.
Speaking on the single, Chatten says, “Roman Holiday makes me think of the wide streets of north London in the Summer and the urge to discover them at night time. The thrill of being a gang of Irish people in London with a bit of a secret language and my first flat with my girlfriend.”
Watch the lyric video for ‘Roman Holiday’ BELOW:
Skinty Fia is an Irish phrase which translates to English as “the damnation of the deer” and the album’s cover art features a deer, plucked from its natural habitat and deposited in the hallway of a home, illuminated by an artificial red glow. The Irish giant deer is an extinct species and the band’s thoughts on Irish identity are central to Skinty Fia. While Dogrel was littered with snapshots of the Dublin characters – like the cabbie in “Boys In The Better Land” – and A Hero’s Death documented the dislocation and disconnection the band felt as they travelled the globe on tour, on Skinty Fia Fontaines D.C. are addressing their Irishness from afar as they recreate new lives for themselves elsewhere. For a band whose hometown courses through their veins – “D.C.” stands for “Dublin City” – the album finds them trying to resolve the need to broaden their horizons with the affection they still feel for the land and people they’ve left behind.
There are echoes of Dogrel’s rumbustious rock ’n’ roll, and the bleaker atmospheres of A Hero’s Death, but Skinty Fia, the third in the triumvirate, is much more expansive and cinematic. Fontaines D.C. are a band in a state of constant evolution and this time the result is an album of shifting moods, startling insight, maturity, and considerable emotional wallop.
Following an intimate sold-out show at Hackney’s EartH earlier this week, and with many of the band’s forthcoming North American tour dates selling out or having venues upgraded, Fontaines D.C. are also set to play a short run of shows with record stores in May 2022 in support of the new album. These shows come ahead of an extensive run of festival appearances including the band’s return to Glastonbury Festival, a headline slot on the BBC Sounds stage at Latitude Festival, as well a main stage appearance at Reading & Leeds and a Future Sounds stage performance at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend. The band will also play an extensive UK / IE headline tour later this year in Nov / Dec 2022, with many further dates being added due to popular demand, including a third date at Eventim Apollo in London.
Full routing can be found below. Tickets are on sale HERE.
Fontaines D.C. on Tour:
MAY 2022
Fri-May-27 Sheffield, United Kingdom @ Foundry
Sat-May-28 Coventry, United Kingdom @ BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend
Sun-May-29 Brighton, United Kingdom @ Chalk
Mon-May-30 Liverpool, United Kingdom @ Hanger 34
JUNE 2022
Sun-June-24-26 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom @ Glastonbury Music Festival
JULY 2022
Sat-Jul-2 Dublin, Ireland @ Iveagh Gardens [SOLD OUT]
Sun-Jul-3 Dublin, Ireland @ Iveagh Gardens [SOLD OUT]
Sat-Jul-8 Lytham St. Anne’s, United Kingdom @ Lytham festival
Sun-Jul-9 Glasgow, United Kingdom @ TRNSMT
Fri-Jul-15 London, United Kingdom @ Finsbury Park with Sam Fender
AUGUST 2022
Sat-Aug-27 Reading, United Kingdom @ Reading Festival
Sun-Aug-28 Leeds, United Kingdom @ Leeds Festival
NOVEMBER 2022
Mon-Nov-7 Hull, United Kingdom @ Bonus Arena
Tue-Nov-8 Leeds, United Kingdom @ O2 Academy
Tue-Nov-9 Leeds, United Kingdom @ O2 Academy [new date added]
Fri-Nov-11 Manchester, United Kingdom @ O2 Victoria Warehouse
Sat-Nov-12 Manchester, United Kingdom @ O2 Victoria Warehouse [date added]
Tue-Nov-15 Stockton, United Kingdom @ Globe
Thur-Nov-17 Glasgow, United Kingdom @ O2 Academy
Fri-Nov-18 Glasgow, United Kingdom @ O2 Acadmy [date added]
Sat-Nov-19 Swansea, United Kingdom @ Swansea Arena
Mon-Nov-21 Birmingham, United Kingdom @ O2 Academy
Thur-Nov-24 London, United Kingdom @ Eventim Apollo
Fri-Nov-25 London, United Kingdom @ Eventim Apollo [date added]
Sat-Nov-26 London, United Kingdom @ Eventim Apollo [date added]
Mon-Nov-28 Edinburgh, United Kingdom @ O2 Academy
Wed-Nov-30 Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street [SOLD OUT]
DECEMBER 2022
Thurs-Dec-1 Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street [SOLD OUT]
Fri-Dec-2 Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street [SOLD OUT]
Sat-Dec-3 Galway, Ireland @ Leisureland [SOLD OUT]
Mon-Dec-5 Limerick, Ireland @ Live At The Big Top
Tue-Dec-6 Derry, United Kingdom @ Millennium Forum
Wed-Dec-7 Belfast, United Kingdom @ Ulster Hall
Thur-Dec-8 Belfast, United Kingdom @ Ulster Hall [date added]
FEBRUARY 2023
Wed-Feb-1 Sydney, Australia @ Roundhouse
Thur-Feb-2 Brisbane, Australia @The Triffid
Tue-Feb-7 Melbourne, Australia @ Corner Hotel
Wed-Feb-8 Melbourne, Australia @ The Forum
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