The message was clear: Kneecap were having the last laugh over the critics who felt they shouldn’t be allowed to play Glastonbury owing to the band’s controversial past comments and Mo Chara’s current terrorism charges (he remains on bail); even Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last week it was “not appropriate” for the band to perform. “Glastonbury, I’m a free man!” were the first words out of Mo Chara’s mouth. “Fuck Keir Starmer,” he later said on three occasions, leading the crowd in a call and response singalong.
Mo Chara and Moglai Bap of Kneecap during Glastonbury festival 2025 (Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
But after Kneecap showed support for Palestine at Coachella, criticising the US Government, the outrage led to opponents discovering onstage comments that have landed the band in trouble. Mo Chara, aka Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, was charged under the name Liam O’Hanna for terrorism offences for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, at a London gig last year. Kneecap also drew criticism for comments onstage at a London gig in 2023 calling for the death of Conservative MPs. The band said in an interview this week that such onstage statements are satirical and made in character.
The mood among those I spoke to was consistent: grave concern and disgust at the situation in Gaza coupled with dismay that their voice is being ignored by the British government. They view Kneecap as rare public figures vehemently giving them a voice. And it’s a popular feeling: the gig at Glastonbury’s third biggest stage was so oversubscribed the official app sent a message at 3.15pm to say there was no longer access (or “too many fenian bastards”, as Mo Chara put it.). They shouted out Palestine Action (a group that are due to be banned by the government); the chants of “Free Palestine” were loud and passionate.
The band’s music – a wild, surreal, mix of fierce beats and pummelling electronics just as concerned with the abandon of hedonism as it is politics – is riotous enough: songs like “Rhino Ket” and “I’m Flush” celebrate narcotic oblivion, and went down a storm with the crowd. But in the highly charged context, the reaction to Kneecap was incendiary – huge singalongs and mosh pits with coloured flares set off – particularly towards the end of the set with “Get Your Brits Out” and new Kemi Badenoch-baiting “The Recap”. “The story isn’t about Kneecap, it’s about a genocide,” Mo Chata said at the end. At the show Keir Starmer didn’t want you to see, Kneecap remained unbowed.
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