Gig Review: Wallows & Fontaines D.C. at Rock En Seine Festival

Elke Smits | October 2025

Seeing two of my favorite bands of all time must have been one of the best experiences I ever endured. Wallows and Fontaines D.C. both played a magical set at Rock En Seine Festival in Paris on 24 August 2025 and I am going to talk all about my experience. 

Let’s go in chronological order, starting off with Wallows. A quick introduction: Wallows, the trio from Los Angeles, consisting of Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston, have been around for almost a decade. I have been listening to the band for quite some time. Back in 2019, I mainly listened to the song “Are You Bored Yet (ft. Clairo)” and later on “1980s Horror Film" and "Scrawny." However, I can not say I have been a fan since 2019 because I only started listening to Wallows’ tracks properly last year. Even though I picked up on Wallows’ music again after some time, it does not take away the fact that the band really grew on me. 

Their Rock En Seine show was the first gig of the band that I saw. Me and my friends were waiting all day at the barricade for them to start the show and the wait was totally worth it. Wallows started their set with “Your Apartment” and the energy was immaculate from that point onward. Wallows are definitely powerful on stage and find a way to keep everyone moving. “Your Apartment” was followed by “Anytime Always” and “Scrawny,” maintaining the same vibe from before. 

“Pictures Of Girls” has been one of my favourite songs for a long time, and after seeing them not playing it at several shows I lost hope they would play it at my show. Yet, they still played it at the festival and that was the moment when I had the realization  that I was finally seeing them live. With its amazing riffs and solos, the song definitely maintained its spot in my top ten Wallows songs. “Pictures Of Girls” is a song meant to be played live. 

The rest of the set went on, coming across some of the band’s classics like “OK,” where Dylan Minnette does his barricade walk while Braeden Lemasters practices his usual stage presence where he hops on stage. Dylan Minnette always does something called “OK-ing” someone, where he lets fans sing along with the bridge of the song. I think this is a great concept to keep the audience moving. 

Songs “Coffin Change” and “Hide It Away” from Wallows’ EP “More,”released on 26 September 2025, obviously could not be missed in this set since their Rock En Seine gig was part of their “Model & More” tour. The song “Quarterback” that Dylan announces as "Preston's song” appears to be unmissable, because that is one of the only songs in their discography where the vocals are from Cole Preston (the drummer).

Their set went from newer releases like “Bad Dream” and “Calling After Me,” to their earlier work like "Uncomfortable" and even their first song ever written, “Pleaser.” Wallows gigs are great for people who are a fan of their singles and their album “Nothing Happens,” because not only do the fans seem to like it, but Wallows definitely seem to have a preference for that certain album. 

Going into their last few songs, starting off with “Are You Bored Yet?” Before Rock En Seine, I had not been a big fan of that song. However, after hearing it live, I remembered that I used to love this song and it is easily a huge part of my musical taste discovery. “Are You Bored Yet?” was followed up by “Remember When,” which gives me a feeling of nostalgia and also the feeling and thought that the set was about to end. 

Dylan Minnette went to give the audience a big thank you and said we were wonderful. Wallows ended their set with my all-time favourite song from them. It was not certain whether they would play it, because they usually end their set with “I Don’t Want To Talk,” however we were surprised by the intro of “I’m Full” and it is safe to say that I have never screamed louder. “I’m Full” is such a special song to me, and is the song that has got me into Wallows completely. I have been blessed to have heard it live, and it was the best final track we could have gotten. 

Going onto Fontaines D.C. – I had not been a fan of the band for a long time, but their songs have had much impact on me and my view on music. The Irish band,  consisting of Grian Chatten (singer), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor Deego (bass), Tom Coll (drums) and Carlos O'Connell (guitar), are an outstanding group that seem to be one of the most influential bands of this century within the indie-rock music genre. Watching videos on social media of their performances already gave me shivers. I was not planning on seeing them live at first, because all the dates were not lining up with my agenda, but once I figured they were on the Rock En Seine lineup, I thought: “why not?”, and it was the best decision ever. 

Fontaines D.C. are phenomenal and their real life performance and stage presence feel much more powerful in person than on social media. The intro of their set started with “Starburster / In heaven” which is a new-ish song from the “Romance (Deluxe)” album, which was released on 16 April 2025. The intro is a short backing track that is played before the band comes on stage. After the intro, most of the band members (except for Grian Chatten) make their way on the stage and start teasing the crowd by playing the first few notes of their incredible song, “Here’s The Thing.” When the beat finally drops, Grian makes his way on stage and starts hyping up the crowd. 

Going from “Here’s The Thing” to the out-of-the-way song “Jackie Down The Line” to “Boys In The Better Land,” which is a song that I cherish a lot. The song is definitely my favourite at the moment, because of the energy it comes with. I could also say that this crowd was one of the best crowds that I came across. It was so lively with mosh pits and everyone screaming along with the lyrics. The vibes of the gig were on and this made it extremely enjoyable. They played as many songs from older albums as from their newer releases. For example, “Dogrel”, which is their 2019 debut album, with songs like “Big” and, as mentioned before, “Boys In The Better Land” and their second released album “A Hero’s Death” (2020) with songs like “Televised Mind” and “A Hero’s Death.” 

I absolutely adore the fact they play lots of older songs during their shows as well. However, this does not take away the fact that their other two albums, “Skinty Fia” (2022) and “Romance” (2024), are as extraordinary as the older releases. “Roman Holiday” and “Big Shot,” both part of the “Skinty Fia” album, were played after each other. In my opinion, they gave off the same vibe and loved the fact they stayed in the dramatic “Skinty Fia” atmosphere. 

The intro of “It’s Amazing To Be Young” started around sundown, which was a beautiful experience and made me realize that it really is amazing to be young. The song is part of the "Romance (Deluxe)” album, and is one of my favourite releases from the few new songs of the deluxe album, along with the song “Before You I Just Forget.” While being played live, I fell even more in love with the vocals of Conor Curley than I already was. The vocals of Conor Curley were majestic in combination with Grian Chatten’s voice. 

“Bug” was the song that actually got me into Fontaines D.C., so it felt so nostalgic to finally have heard it live, even though the song was only released in 2024. Everything about the track is just pure art. After “Bug,” the set had a turn as the song, full of despair and love, “Naba=okov,” started playing. The song with the desperate vocals is definitely different from the energetic song “Bug” which they played in front of “Nobakov.” 

Three songs from “Romance” were played after “Nobakov.” They played “Desire”, which is another emotionally-charged song to hear live, “Favourite” and “In The Modern World.” All three of these songs were majestic and somehow gave me a dreamy feeling of being able to be there, with my friends, enjoying our favourite artists. “Favourite” hit me the hardest, and I can not lie, I did have to shed a tear during the lyrics “and if there was lightning in me, you’d know who it was for,” which I relate to my friends. 

Coming to the end of the set, they played “I Love You,” which is a song written as a love letter to their home country of Ireland. But also about the underlying meaning of the corruption in the land, which they now seem to connect with the genocide happening in Palestine. During the song, the screens light up with the text “Israel is committing genocide, use your voice” and later on just the words “Free Palestine.” I think it’s beautiful and powerful that they are so open about their political statements. It makes them authentic because they do not care for whatever backlash they could get for it. The only thing I can say is, Free Palestine, and indeed, do use your voice. 

The screens with the text remained like that during their last song “Starburster” as well. “Starburster” is the perfect closing song for the set, because it gives the crowd one last burst of energy. 

Rock En Seine was an amazing experience. I saw two of my favourite bands live and I would not trade these few hours for anything. I am so blessed to be able to do these kinds of things and would wish this upon anyone else. If you ever have the chance to see Wallows and/or Fontaines D.C. live, you absolutely have to take that chance. I will give you my word for it. 

Listen to Wallows on Spotify here.

Listen to Fontaines D.C on Spotify here.