Tom Dunne: CMAT, Fontaines, and Kneecap to the fore in a golden age for Irish music
Homework was cancelled when Thin Lizzy had a hit with Whiskey in the Jar. By that metric the current success of Irish bands should warrant about a month off school.
To put it in perspective, imagine if Glastonbury was taking place next year (it isn't, it's a rest year). No eyelid would bat if CMAT did the Pyramid Stage on Friday and Fontaines DC did the same Saturday. Hozier could play too. In Irish music history that is unprecedented.
And before you split hairs with me CMAT played to a bigger more appreciative audience this year at Glastonbury than the later headliners The 1975 did. And that's before she releases her new album Euro-Country.
Behold our new masters:
CMAT
I was at All Together Now the day after CMAT played. She was all anyone was talking about. People said she's been a bit emotional on stage, overwhelmed by the audience response. However emotional she may have been she wasn't as teary as the people telling me this. They adored her.
Part of CMAT's appeal is her charm and relatability. She is down-to-earth and hilarious. She tells people she slept for 13 hours' after Glastonbury, the 'best sleep since November.' She also informs us that she writes albums quickly because, 'This might go away tomorrow.' She is genius songwriter with a gift for the killer line. I Wanna Be a Cowboy Baby, Stay for Something, Take a Sexy Picture of Me and The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station are equal parts heartbreak, wry observation and tragicomedy. It is a CMAT universe of KFC chicken wings and heartbreak.
She has been on the receiving end of trolling over her physical appearance since the BBC Big Weekend of 2024. No surprise there, the internet is a cesspit, but she is forgiving even of that explaining that those who speak badly of her may not be having a great time of it themselves.
It is this that I think is the key to her relatability. She is more at the Jarvis Cocker end of the celebrity spectrum than the diva end, and thank God for that. If you can't look at someone on stage and imagine, just briefly 'that could be me' then what's the point?
She is all of that and yet has the self-possession on stage of a superstar. The CMAT FOR PRESIDENT movement starts today.
Carlos O'Connell, Tom Coll, Conor Deegan III and Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty)
Fontaines DC
'The biggest Irish group since U2' is the phrase being bandied about. I think that's unfair to the Cranberries, but I can see where they are going. Quite simply since their debut album Dogrel in 2019 they have not put a foot wrong.
They are incendiary live with a reputation that has proceeded them around the world. Key to that in Grian Chatten. He has a voice that at first seems incongruous, but which utterly defines their uniqueness. The minute you hear it on radio you think 'Fontaines DC'.
Like CMAT, the flow of material is eye-watering. Despite an incredibly demanding touring schedule, they also produce new material as if also working to a 'this might go away tomorrow' mantra. Go on their website to see the sheer extent of their worldwide appeal – its Sweden today, Helsinki the 10th, Manchester the 15th and on and on.
Kneecap onstage at Glastonbury. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
Kneecap
I had thought of Hozier for the third slot as his various successes – sell out USA arenas, UK and US number ones, 1.6 billion Spotify plays for Too Sweet, and 3.1 billion for Take me to Church – obviously warrant it, but I had to go for Kneecap. Their success is just too hilarious to ignore.
I don't think the British establishment has been this convulsed, this driven to new extremes of self-righteous indignation since the Sex Pistols released God Save The Queen. It's heart-warming to see.
A group rapping in Irish. A man in a balaclava. An audience singing 'Get your Brits out.' How have I lived to see such wonders? Am I dreaming?
There are more I could add here, Inhaler for a start, but let's leave it there and prepare our minds for the Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast, August 29. Fontaines DC and Kneecap in a town where on July 12 I saw both Union Jacks and Israeli flags flying side by side.
It's going to be interesting.
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