Kneecap at Electric Picnic review: Trio deserve headline slot after epic performance
Mo Chara and Moglai Bap of Kneecap performing on the main stage at Electric Picnic. Pictures: Larry Cummins.
Long before Kneecap had even come close to coming on to the main stage at Electric Picnic, there was already a buzz in the air.
The crowd – and their excitement - built and built and built before the moment arrived.
Kicking off with 3CAG from their 2024 album Fine Art, DJ Provai’s arrival on stage was greeted with a huge cheer before he was followed by band mates Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap.
From there, it was a rapid rip through their catalogue over sixty sensational minutes.
Móglai Bap did note that they were “very hungover boys”, having played a gig in their home town of Belfast on Friday evening alongside Fontaines DC.
However, he added that performing on Saturday was the “best way to cure it.” DJ Provai took up the mic for Better Way to Live, stepping into the role usually filled by Fontaines DC's frontman Grían Chattan.
A number of political leaders were targeted throughout the set.
Viktor Orban for banning the group from Hungary for the next three years, Fianna Fáil leader Michéal Martin and the Fine Gael party for their “inaction” on the housing crisis and doing "fuck all about Palestine".
The British Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch was also in the trio’s crosshairs.
She was the minister who initially blocked the trio from receiving funding from the British Government, only to be overturned by a court ruling in 2024.
At one point, they referred to themselves as “the Wolfe Tones on cocaine – the Wolfe Sróíns if you will.” There were numerous renditions of ‘Free Mo Chara’ from the crowd, a reference to his appearance in a British court for an alleged act of terrorism.
As always, Palestine was put to the front and centre too, with Benjamin Netanyahu being called a “war criminal” by Mo Chara.
The close of the set saw some of their most famous hits rolled out back to back, with CEARTA, Get Your Brits Out, H.O.O.D and The Recap sending an already frenzied crowd into overdrive.
As Mo Chara noted on stage, the group first played Electric Picnic in front of “about 16 people in the Pobaill na Gailge tent in the mid-2010s.
In the decade or so since, they’ve worked their way through the Terminus and Electric Arena before rightfully getting their reward on Saturday of a main stage slot.
Based off the sheer number of people who attended their set, the next time they pop up in Stradbally, it is not too wild a suggestion to predict that they will be headlining.
They will have more than earned it.
