Fontaines D.C. deliver rock masterclass at All Together Now

There’s something special about arriving at Curraghmore House on a clear-skied Friday, knowing a full weekend of music and art lies ahead. After a few years away, it’s my first time at All Together Now since 2019.

Back then, the festival made headlines for the now-infamous traffic jam (I don't think I'll ever forget the seven hour drive down, alone, in a car without a CD player!) This time? Access was seamless, thanks in no small part to the smart decision to open campsites on Thursday, spreading arrivals and easing congestion enroute to the historic site.

From the get-go, it was clear that this festival has grown in confidence and scale. With impressive art installations dotting the walkways, sunshine pouring over the estate, and a genuinely wholesome atmosphere among the crowd, All Together Now feels like it has its own identity now.

Lisa O’Neill’s Friday Main Stage set was quietly stirring. Her distinctively raw, expressive voice cut through the festival buzz, weaving contemporary folk narratives with understated intensity. Stories unfolded between songs as reflectively as her performance was gentle, holding the crowd’s attention with haunting melodies and her own warm, grounded presence.

Things then took a turn toward the chaotic with Wet Leg, the Isle of Wight band whose rise has been nothing short of meteoric. With songs like 'Chaise Longue' and 'Wet Dream', their set was a riot of fuzzy guitars and infectious energy, punctuated brilliantly with the occasional scream. Make no mistake, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers are onto something. The only question now is: how high can they fly?

Over at the Flourish Stage, I caught Skinner, a rising Irish act who pulled off one of the evening’s most exciting sets. Inspired by the angular, chaotic spirit of the New York no wave scene, Skinner brought a rough-edged, experimental energy that was both confrontational and deeply fun.

His performance felt like controlled chaos, a fuzz-drenched, brass-laced collision of punk and jazz. It’s always refreshing to see an act push against the grain, and Skinner did so with total conviction.

Next I legged it over to the Lovely Days Stage, just in time for Parra For Cuva. I was spellbound as he delivered a mesmerising set of ambient house and textured electronics. His music unfolds slowly, like a mist rising off water, immersive, melodic, and deeply atmospheric. As night settled in and festival-goers lounged on the grass or gently swayed under glowing light displays, Parra For Cuva's set felt like a measured exhale, a blissed-out counterpoint to the intensity of the acts on other stages.

As his set came to a close, a general migration towards the Main Stage had begun. This was, of course, to catch the homegrown headliners for the evening, Fontaines D.C. And from the opening chords, their presence was commanding, intense, brooding, and utterly magnetic, the sheer numbers of people in the crowd feeding off their sonic energy underlining the fact that they are now Ireland’s premier rock band.

Is it legitimate to talk about Fontaines D.C.’s greatest hits? ‘Romance’, ‘Boys in the Better Land’, ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’, ‘A Hero’s Death’, ‘Nabokov’, ‘I Love You’, ‘Starburster’ – these are all big songs. But there is also a sense that Grian and the boys in the band know exactly what they want to achieve in a live setting. Grian in particular is a towering, charismatic presence, lifting this evening’s set into the realms of the mythic. Fontaines D.C. delivered mightily.

As I wandered back to my tent beneath the soft glow of art installations and a cloudless sky, I couldn’t help reflecting that it was an impressive opening salvo. Let’s see what the rest of the weekend brings...