Kneecap defiant at first major gig since terror charge

Kneecap followers turned out in power on Friday to assist the Irish-language hip-hop trio at their largest ever pageant headline gig, which got here simply days after a band member was charged with a terror offence.

Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged by the Metropolitan Police for having allegedly displayed a flag in assist of proscribed Lebanese organisation Hezbollah at a gig final 12 months.

The band denied the offence, calling it “political policing” and “a carnival of distraction” away from Gaza.

Talking on stage on the Vast Awake pageant, the rapper – resulting from seem in courtroom subsequent month – mentioned the authorites had been “making an attempt to silence us earlier than Glastonbury” and urged followers to be “on the fitting facet of historical past.”

“I do know we’re out, we’re having fun with ourselves and we’re making an attempt to take heed to some tunes at a pageant… consider me lads, I want I did not have to do that,” he mentioned on the south London occasion.

“However the world’s not listening. The world must see solidarity of 20,000 folks in a park in London chanting, ‘free free Palestine!'”

The mantra echoed out round Brixton’s Brockwell park.

The UN mentioned on Friday that Gaza was in the “cruellest phase” of war, with 9,000 vehicles’ value of support prepared on the border for the Palestinian territory.

“Let’s keep in mind how fortunate we’re to be in a subject with our pals and never being bombed from the sky,” Kneecap’s frontman, who goes by the stage title Mo Chara, advised the viewers on Friday night time.

Israel launched a army marketing campaign in Gaza in response to the Palestinian group Hamas’s cross-border assault on 7 October 2023, by which about 1,200 folks had been killed and 251 others had been taken hostage.

At the least 53,762 folks, together with 16,500 kids, have been killed in Gaza since then, in accordance with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.

Friday’s live performance – Kneecap’s first massive gig for the reason that investigation was launched – adopted a smaller “secret” set at London’s 100 membership the night time earlier than.

It noticed the band – comprised of Chara, Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) and balaclava-wearing beatmaker DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh) – rip via tracks from their acclaimed album Effective Artwork, which has seen a surge in streaming in current weeks for the reason that controversy started.

This included a model new monitor referred to as The Recap which dropped on-line solely hours earlier, and begins with a clip of a information report concerning the counter-terrorism investigation.

Followers, lots of whom had been sporting Irish and Palestinian flags and shirts, bounced and sang alongside to their tracks which discover them rapping in English and Irish about every thing from drug-fuelled events to Northern Eire and Gaza.

One fan, Myrtle from Brighton, advised BBC Information she agreed with the band’s views on Gaza.

“I feel it is wonderful. I feel they’re fully proper,” she mentioned.

“Think about in just a few years if we get to a state the place it is [even worse] and you’ll’t say that you have been on the fitting facet of historical past and you have not made an effort to make that change, how do you not really feel responsible?”

She added: “Clearly it is led to one in all them being charged with a terror offence which is terrible, but it surely’s introduced extra consideration to the politics behind it.”

The gig culminated in rousing renditions of Kneecap songs Get Your Brits out and H.O.O.D, with the band encouraging followers to bellow out the Irish Republican slogan “Tiocfaidh ár lá“, which interprets as “our day will come”.

Brixton resident John advised us outdoors the gig: “At finest they’re naive, at worst they’re apologists for violence.”

“Do they actually know what Eire was like earlier than the Good Friday Agreement?” he requested.

A fan who lives in Orkney, Gwen, advised us she had first come throughout Kneecap “accidentally” when her sister advised her concerning the band’s now Bafta-winning movie.

She lived in a kibbutz in Israel when she was youthful. “I’ve spent numerous time in Israel, and I’ve had a stunning expertise with Israeli folks, and I’ve met Palestinian folks in Israel,” she defined.

“And the principle factor that resonated with me once I was in Israel was that most individuals on the bottom simply form of need peace. They do not like dwelling with the fixed worry of terror.”

She mentioned she “cherished Kneecap much more” once they “began placing their gentle on Gaza”.

Talking on the Ivor Novello awards a day earlier, the composer of Kneecap’s semi-autobiographical biopic, Michael “Mikey J” Asante, advised the BBC’s Mark Savage: “I have not actually spoken to them, it is all fairly new – however greater than anything there’s the notion of freedom of expression.

“It’ll all work out the way it must. So you permit the individuals who have the knowledge to make the fitting choices.”

Ó hAnnaidh appeared unconcerned concerning the legislation on the night time, joking with followers that they must write to him in jail whereas asking them to get their “grannies to gentle a wee candle for me”.

To their many followers, Kneecap are relatable, hedonistic provocateurs, mixing rapid-fire anti-establishment lyrics that purpose to provide a voice to the oppressed with danceable bass-heavy beats.

To their critics they’re harmful upstarts who’ve now gone too far.

Throughout an incendiary efficiency on the Coachella music pageant in California final month, they described Israel’s army motion in Gaza as a US-funded genocide. Consequently, they’ve been referred to as antisemitic and “terrorist sympathisers”.

Then within the UK, historic footage from two of their gigs was assessed by counter-terrorism police. One appeared to indicate a band member shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” – each teams are banned within the UK and it’s a crime to specific assist for them – whereas one other video allegedly confirmed them calling for Conservative MPs to be killed.

Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs Sir David Amess and Jo Cox however claimed footage of the incident had been taken out of context and “exploited and weaponised”, including that they had have “by no means supported” Hamas or Hezbollah.

They repeated the declare they had been “being made an instance of” on stage on Friday.

Organisers of Friday’s Brixton occasion confirmed in an announcement earlier this month that Friday’s gig would go forward after they held “optimistic discussions with key stakeholders”.

“Vast Awake Pageant has a proud historical past of supporting the choice music scene and we sit up for staging one other unforgettable occasion showcasing the perfect rising and established expertise,” they mentioned.

However different Kneecap gigs have been cancelled within the wake of the controversy, together with their units on the Eden Mission in Cornwall and Plymouth Pavilions.

Police Scotland have mentioned that permitting them to carry out on the TRNSMT music pageant in Glasgow subsequent month would require “a big policing operation”.

Some politicians together with Tory chief Kemi Badenoch have referred to as for Kneecap to be banned and Commons Chief Lucy Powell has mentioned the group shouldn’t be allowed to carry out at Glastonbury subsequent month, the place they’re listed for the Saturday.

Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh is because of seem in courtroom per week earlier than the pageant begins.

Artists together with CMAT, Huge Assault and Primal Scream in addition to Paul Weller and DJ Annie Mac have all publicly defended Kneecap, saying the powers-that-be are “strategically concocting ethical outrage over the stage utterings of a younger punk band” whereas ignoring the scenario in Gaza.