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Kneecap at All Together Now: Rappers deliver exceptional performance with a soaring, moving peak
🇮🇪 Ireland /Culture & Society

Kneecap at All Together Now: Rappers deliver exceptional performance with a soaring, moving peak

From Irish Times · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Irish rap group Kneecap delivered a more mature and somber performance at the All Together Now festival.
  • The set addressed themes like Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh's terrorism charges, Irish history, and personal loss.
  • The concert featured political activist Bernadette McAlliskey and a tribute to Ó Cairealláin's late mother.

Irish rap group Kneecap delivered a performance at the All Together Now festival that marked a departure from their usual energetic and humorous sets. Drenched in red light, the band opened with "Éire go Deo" from their album "Fenian," which features a recording of the late broadcaster Rónán Mac Aodha Bhuí. They followed with the industrial track "Smugglers and Scholars," which carries a more austere edge than their earlier, jokier singles.

The shift in tone is perhaps linked to the recent legal troubles of Mo Chara, whose real name is Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh. He faced terrorism charges under the UK's Terrorism Act for allegedly displaying a Hizbullah flag at a concert, though a London high court later ruled he would not face a fresh terror charge in Britain. Their latest album, "Fenian," delves into these trials, as well as Palestine, Irish history, and the loss of Naoise Ó Cairealláin's mother to suicide.

it is our job as human beings and as Irish people who understand colonisation to know genocide is as old as colonisation

— Bernadette McAlliskeyDelivering a pro-Palestinian message during Kneecap's set.

The live performance reflected this maturity, with tracks like "Carnival" directly referencing Ó hAnnaidh's court appearances. Chants of "Free Mo Chara," recorded outside Westminster Magistrates Court, were incorporated, with the crowd joining in. The show was divided into two acts, with their breakout 2017 single "C.E.A.R. T.A." serving as a mid-set palate cleanser.

Veteran political activist Bernadette McAlliskey joined the band to deliver a pro-Palestinian message, stating, "it is our job as human beings and as Irish people who understand colonisation to know genocide is as old as colonisation." The concert's emotional peak came with Ó Cairealláin's performance of "Irish Goodbye," a song he described as his "love letter" to his mother, Irish-language activist Aoife Ní Riain, who died in 2020. He was joined by collaborator Kae Tempest and members of BIIRD and the Ó Flaharta siblings.

love letter

— Ó CairealláinDescribing his song 'Irish Goodbye' dedicated to his late mother.
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Originally published by Irish Times. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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