Watch Fontaines D.C. debut new song ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’ live

23 February, 2025

Fontaines D.C.'s Grian Chatten performing live on stage

Fontaines D.C. showcased their new song ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’ in Japan last night (February 22) – check it out below.

The band, who shared the James Ford produced track earlier this week, dropped it into their set at the Toyosu PIT, in Tokyo.

Speaking to NME, bassist Conor ‘Deego’ Deegan III this week explained how the song was inspired by being “in the presence of a newborn child” – the child of guitarist Carlos O’Connell, and how that the song was written around the same time as their recent album ‘Romance‘ but was simply left off the record as they wanted to keep the LP “concise”. ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’ will be released on vinyl backed by the b-side ‘Before You I Just Forget’ later this year. Visit here to pre-order it.

Ahead of their show last night, he also revealed that the two new songs would be entering the live set very soon once they’ve finished “working out the kinks”. Speaking on the phone from a soundcheck in Osaka amidst their Japanese tour, Deego also revealed how the country helped to shape ‘Romance’.

“Our first visit to Japan was actually a big inspiration for the record and made a big impression on us – Tokyo and that dream-like city. It would be nice to play [‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’] in the city that helped inspire it.”

Along with the single, their show last night also saw them perform a host of tracks from their new album including the title track, ‘Here’s The Thing’ and ‘Starburster’.

Speaking further about ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’, Deego added: “I’m glad it got to see the light of day, because it a special song to us. More so for the way it was written than the song itself, in a weird way. It started life in the presence of Carlos’ newborn and it’s just a message for her, you know.”

He continued: “It was really heartwarming. Sometimes as people we can be a bit cynical. The world around us can make you that way if you’re paying attention it. Sometimes optimism feels like a necessary delusion, but with the birth of a new child we were introduced to a really pure and deep beauty and hope that can’t be debated away by anyone jaded or even by ourselves.”

Asked about the b-side, Deego replied: “That is a song that Curley [Conor Curley] wrote and we finished off. I really that song. It’s got a great bassline and a real sweetness to it in the vocals, but in a way that you’re kind of worried about the person singing it because it’s a bit manic. I would say that it’s well-considered.”

Fans hoping that the new single is a sign of more new material dropping imminently may have to wait a little longer, but Deego did say that the band were already at work on album number five.

“It’s one of those things where we can’t stop writing – it’s something that we just do when we’re with each other,” he told NME. “We should probably take a break from it because it would be nice to let the ‘Romance’ world simmer down a bit and open up our imaginations to something else. I think we’ll just keep writing and stay connected to each other, then when we finish up the tour we can get into the more serious conceptualisation or whatever.”

Fontaines D.C. are in the midst of a stacked year of international touring in Japan, Australia and New Zealand (check out the full list of dates and get any remaining tickets here) with the band returning to Europe and the UK for a run of huge outdoor headline shows and festival appearances this summer. Visit here for tickets and more information.

Fontaines D.C. played:

‘Romance’
‘Jackie Down The Line’
‘Televised Mind’
‘Roman Holiday’
‘Big Shot’
‘Death Kink’
‘Sundowner’
‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’
‘Big’
‘A Hero’s Death’
‘Here’s The Thing’
‘Bug’
‘Horseness Is The Whatness’
‘Nabokov’
‘Boys In The Better Land’
‘Favourite’

Encore:

‘In the Modern World’
‘Desire’
‘I Love You’
‘Starburster’

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