Kneecap hit again at Starmer in highly-charged Glastonbury set

Belfast rap group Kneecap stuffed Glastonbury’s West Holts stage for a highly-charged efficiency that hit again at Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with expletive-laden chants.

The Irish-language band have been within the headlines after rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs underneath the identify Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying the flag of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig final yr. He has denied the cost.

Final week, Sir Keir stated Kneecap’s look on the competition was “not applicable”.

On stage, the band thanked Glastonbury for retaining them on the invoice and instructed the gang the “prime minister of your nation, not mine, stated he did not need us to play”.

Mr Ó hAnnaidh is on bail after a courtroom listening to in London two weeks in the past.

In the direction of the beginning of their set, the rapper – who was carrying a Palestinian keffiyeh – held his arms out to the gang and introduced, “Glastonbury, I’m a free man!”

His bandmate Naoise Ó Cairealláin, who performs underneath the identify Móglaí Bap, referred to as the case “a trumped up terrorism cost”, including that it was “not the primary time there was a miscarriage of justice for an Irish particular person within the British justice system”.

Glastonbury organisers needed to fence off the West Holts subject 45 minutes earlier than the band’s look, as 1000’s turned as much as present their help – or see what all of the fuss was about.

They have been handled to a set of raucous, rabble-rousing electro-rap, and responded by setting off smoke flares and moshing in large rippling circles of our bodies.

The hedonism of the music, rooted in membership and drug tradition, was usually at odds with the band’s pronouncements between songs.

The trio, who’re vocal critics of Israel’s navy motion in Gaza, addressed that matter once more throughout their Glastonbury set.

“We perceive colonialism and we perceive how essential it’s to help one another internationally,” Mr Ó hAnnaidh stated.

Accusing Israel of genocide, he then led the gang in a chant of “free, free Palestine”.

Israel has strongly denied allegations of genocide referring to the continuing battle in Gaza.

Kneecap additionally voiced help for Palestine Motion, a protest group that the UK authorities intends to proscribe underneath anti-terror legal guidelines, after a few of its activists broke into an RAF base and spray-painted two navy planes purple.

This led to an additional chant in opposition to Sir Keir, because the band criticised the UK’s sale of arms to Israel.

Fashioned in 2017, Kneecap rose to fame after starring a semi-autobiographical movie alongside Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender final yr.

Their vocal help for Palestinians put them underneath an intense media and political highlight earlier this yr, after an look at Coachella Pageant in California.

Shortly after, video footage emerged of Mr Ó hAnnaidh allegedly holding a Hezbollah flag at a gig in November 2024.

The video was investigated by anti-terrorism police which resulted in Mr Ó hAnnaidh being charged, underneath the identify Liam O’Hanna.

Amid the row, Sir Keir and Tradition Secretary Lisa Nandy have been amongst those that stated Kneecap’s look at Glastonbury was “not applicable”.

Nevertheless, the band’s set was backed by Glastonbury founder Sir Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily, who runs the competition.

She instructed the BBC: “There have been a whole lot of actually heated matters this yr, however we stay a platform for a lot of, many artists from all around the world and, you already know, everyone seems to be welcome right here.”

Sir Michael added that “folks that do not agree with the politics of the occasion can go some place else”, in an interview with Glastonbury’s on-site newspaper.

On stage, Kneecap thanked the competition for his or her help.

“The stress that that household was underneath they usually stood sturdy,” stated Mr Ó hAnnaidh. “Honest play to them.”

The band’s Glastonbury look induced issues for the BBC, which needed to resolve whether or not it may broadcast their set whereas assembly its obligations to impartiality and offensive language.

Though there was no dwell stream, the broadcaster later uploaded a largely unedited model of the efficiency to its Glastonbury highlights web page on BBC iPlayer.

“While the BBC does not ban artists, our plans be sure that our programming meets our editorial guideline,” a spokesperson stated on Saturday.

“We do not all the time dwell stream each act from the primary phases and look to make an on-demand model of Kneecap’s efficiency accessible on our digital platforms, alongside greater than 90 different units.”

Throughout the set, Mr Ó hAnnaidh noticed the ocean of Palestinian flags within the viewers and joked that “the BBC editor goes to have some job”.