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 â and their excitement - built and built and built before the moment arrived.
Kicking off with 3CAG from their 2024 album Fine Art, DJ Provaiâs arrival on stage was greeted with a huge cheer before he was followed by band mates Mo Chara and MĂłglaĂ Bap.
From there, it was a rapid rip through their catalogue over sixty sensational minutes.
MĂłglai Bap did note that they were âvery hungover boysâ, 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 âbest way to cure it.â DJ Provai took up the mic for Better Way to Live, stepping into the role usually filled by Fontaines DC's frontman GrĂan 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 FĂĄil leader MichĂ©al Martin and the Fine Gael party for their âinactionâ on the housing crisis and doing "fuck all about Palestine".
The British Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch was also in the trioâs 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 âthe Wolfe Tones on cocaine â the Wolfe SrĂłĂns if you will.â There were numerous renditions of âFree Mo Charaâ 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 âwar criminalâ 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 âabout 16 people in the Pobaill na Gailge tent in the mid-2010s.
In the decade or so since, theyâve 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.
