Review: The Irish band that Oasis recently trashed outshined their rivals in Minneapolis

The thickly accented singer sang about becoming a rock star but barely talked to the crowd. The rest of the band mostly just stood still and looked aloof. Their music echoed British rock bands from another era.

Is this a review of an old Oasis concert as a reminder of what to expect from the group’s hotly hyped 2025 reunion tour? No, it’s a review of a band that’s very much alive and kicking and making exciting new music in 2024 — and that might be Oasis’ new rivals.

Irish rockers Fontaines D.C. arrived to a packed Fillmore in Minneapolis on Tuesday night topping off a buzz that nearly got stymied by the pandemic, but instead has consistently picked up in intensity since then. You know there’s a lot of overseas hoopla around the band at the moment when there’s also been a lot of tabloid-style press about them.

Foremost among the recent media attention was a verbal squabble between members of Oasis and the Fontaines. The younger Irishmen voiced their disinterest in the older British rockers’ reunion tour. Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, in turn, called them “little spunkbubbles” and said, “They look like a [expletive] EMF,” and, “I’ve seen better-dressed roadies.”

Fair enough on the style assessment. The Fontaines — who added the initials for “Dublin City” to their name in America for trademark reasons — took the Fillmore stage dressed like they all worked at an independent video store circa 1989, save for singer Grian Chatten. He wore a kilt and motorcycle boots under his own band’s T-shirt; the latter wardrobe choice maybe being the oddest.

Of the three spiritless concerts by Oasis that this music reviewer saw back in the day, though, the Fontaines’ performance Tuesday was way more electrifying, cohesive and climactic. Oasis should maybe shut up and take note.

For starters, unlike Gallagher and his own bandmates, Chatten is a frontman who actually moves, and who potently works the stage without coming off too rock-starry. The 29-year-old singer paced around in circles early in the set during the “Tomorrow Never Knows”-flavored haze-rocker “Televised Mind.” He snarled and gestured with intensity a few songs later in the cocky slow-burner “Big Shot.” He coolly sat back and seemed to absorb the crowd’s input during the melodically splattered mid-show highlight “Jackie Down the Line.”

Chatten and his four bandmates also threw a lot more musical variety into the equation this time around thanks to their latest album, “Romance,” which factored heavily in the second half of their 85-minute set. Granted, there was still a retro-British tinge to the new material, but it ranged well beyond the post-punk niches of earlier stuff.

There was a Radiohead-like eerie moodiness in the title track, which opened the show. Fontaines guitarists Conor Curley and Carlos O’Connell — did we mention they’re Irish? — helped create a surprisingly pretty, Echo & the Bunnymen-like dose of lovelorn melody and melancholy in “Favourite,” which ended the set pre-encore. Best of all, the band whirred together a mish-mash of cool Manchester scene influences in the hard-stammering new single, “Starburster,” which was wisely saved for a thrilling finale.

Adding to the swirly guitar noise — and maybe to the need for a fashion consultant on the tour — were the slacker-looking kids in the rising New York band Been Stellar, who opened Tuesday’s gig. Their cheeky name belied their seriously intoxicating whirl of shoegaze guitaring and melodic ‘90s bombast, highlighted by their crescendoing closing song “I Have the Answer,” which they dedicated to Matt’s Bar. They offered plenty else to bite into, too.