Kneecap shout out undercover police among largest ever gig in London
Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap played their largest-ever gig alongside Fontaines DC in London’s Finsbury Park and humorously shouted out all the undercover police watching their set.
On July 5th, Kneecap joined a stellar line-up, including Blondshell, Amyl, and the Sniffers, to support Fontaines DC’s headline show. A crowd of 45,000 people gathered to watch the controversial Irish band perform fiery hits, only a week after the stage for their Glastonbury set was shut down half an hour before they stepped on it because of overcrowding.
The band took to the stage with a well-humoured address; Mo Chara, who had recently attended Magistrates Court in Westminster to receive unconditional bail for the ongoing terror charge, stated, “It’s nice to be back in London and not be up in court. It’s been a mad fews weeks lad Jesus fucking Christ look at the state of me.”
His bandmate, Móglaí Bap, commented “He’s a free man!” before Chara gestured toward their controversial stage presence that had already landed them in legal trouble, stating, “Well, we’ll see how this gig goes.”
Chara turned his attention directly to the audience, then declaring, “Kneecap gigs have all been about inclusion so I’d like to make sure all our undcover cops have a nice day you miserable cunts.”
Chants echoed across the park, as they repeated the “fuck Keir Starmer” and “you’re just a shit Jeremy Corbyn” that appeared during their Glastonbury Festival set.
Mo Chara’s second court date lies on August 20th, though the Met Police have confirmed that they have dropped charges for Kneecap’s “Kill your local MP” comments after they apologised and insisted they meant no ill-will. After Bap encouraged the crowd to join them outside the Court on August 20th, Chara added, “I appreciate it, the 20th of August is going to be the second time Kneecap have beat the Britisn their own court, on their own terms, and we’re going to beat them for the second time.”
This is in reference to a previous court battle they won against Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. In December 2023, Kneecap was included in the Music Export Growth Scheme, which aims to promote British bands internationally and had previously been signed off by the BPI. However, an intervention from the Department for Business and Trade, headed up by Badenoch, stopped Kneecap from receiving funds. Kneecap won the legal battle as it was deemed that the British government discriminated against the group by stopping this funding.
“I tell you what, there is nothing like embarrassing the British Government,” they added gleefully. Kneecap were also joined on stage by Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten, who performed the collaboration ‘Better Way to Live’ with the band.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.