Kneecap
3Arena, Dublin
★★★★
It’s 14 months since Kneecap released a semi-fictional movie about their overnight rise – but it turns out that the real drama was yet to come.
Demonstrating an uncanny talent for staying in the spotlight the Derry-Belfast rap trio have gone on to be championed by Elton John, condemned in the House of Commons, feted at Glastonbury and dragged before the British courts.
At the end of 12 months like that there is the obvious worry that the first of two headline performances at 3Arena Dublin might be an anticlimax. Are they already thinking of a Christmas breather?
As if aware of that possibility the trio of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí, bring the energy with a rambunctious and humorous set, that begins polemic on the video screens about the use of Shannon by the US military but which then keeps the politics largely in the wings (“no flags on stage, only bags”).
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How strange to recall that, this time a year ago, Kneecap were not regarded as especially outspoken about Palestine. Yes, they talked about it at every concert – but – most of the attention was on their Irish language activism. All that changed at the Coachella festival in California last April when they projected the message “F*ck Israel” on stage. The internet went into meltdown – and the group were both condemned and celebrated with equal enthusiasm.
At the 3Arena, they deliver their now customary stump speech about Palestine – after criticising the landlords and tech companies who they say have caused rents to rise in Dublin (they should have seen Dublin before the tech companies). They also speak out on behalf of hunger strikers linked to Palestine Action in jail in the UK.
Kneecap’s feelings about Palestine are of course entirely sincere. But their political outspokenness has done wonders too for their profile.
In the UK, fans and detractors alike have likened them to the Sex Pistols – another group who terrified the moral majority and sent politicians into a collective faint.
The Sex Pistols were of course ultimately a victory of hype over music (they had tunes but not enough to keep the bandwagon going). Might that be true of Kneecap? Worryingly the new songs they have released post-Coachella have suggested a less interesting prodigy and lack the wit of their debut album Fine Art.
That LP is more or less played in full and showcases not only their politics but also their humour. There are heartfelt moments, too, including the dedication of a song to the late writer and broadcaster Manchán Magan.
They reveal that playing 3Arena was always their long-term ambition. To mark the occasion there are guest appearances by Limerick rapper Shane Davis and Dundalk’s The Mary Wallopers with their hip hop project TPM, plus an a cappella rendition of the Dublin trad dirge Auld Triangle.
Kneecap later dedicate the rave onslaught Get Your Brits out to late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and lead a chant of “Maggie’s in a box”. This is sure to cause no controversy whatsoever on social media and will undoubtedly pass without comment.
With DJ Próvaí rapping from the middle of the crowd, Kneepcap begin the encore with the Recap – a brash new tune that chronicles their run-in with British justice over the display of a Hizbullah flag at a show. They finish with a singalong of Fairytale of New York, dedicated to Móglaí Baps’s late grandmother Theresa Carleton.
What does the future hold for Kneecap? Are they a three-headed controversy machine or will they outlast the infamy sure to evaporate sooner or later? You feel the next chapter will be crucial – but for now, Kneecap remain a formidable live machine and this concert is great fun.
