Irish rappers Kneecap took the headline slot at Reading to say “f**** Benjamin Netanyahu” and “Andy Burnham is a wanker” in the latest politically charged performance from the West Belfast trio.
With a Palestinian flag draped over the DJ deck, the trio, consisting of rappers Moglai Bap, Mo Chara and DJ Provai – who has been replaced with an alternative due to the arrival of his newborn child – got the crowd jumping with hits from their latest album FENIAN as well as 2024’s Fine Art, with some political messaging interspersed into their set.
“It’s important to us that we use this platform for what we believe to be right, and some people aren’t as f****** lucky right now, and that’s our brothers and sisters in Palestine,” the band said midway through their set on the final day of Reading Festival.
“So I just need to take some time to show some solidarity as Irish people; we understand displacement, colonialism and forced starvation of a population that we see right now in Palestine.
“So just remember how lucky we all are to be in a field with all our best f****** mates listening to tunes, and let’s be thinking at the same time about our Palestinian brothers and sisters, so f*** Benjamin Netanyahu, and free, free Palestine!”
In a second speech, the band encouraged the crowd to call the new prime minister a “wanker”.
They said: “Andy Burnham said a united Ireland is off the table, so everybody: ‘Andy Burnham’s a wanker.’”
The set also included hits from 2018’s 3cag, as well as 2019 single Get Your Brits Out.
The band’s controversy precedes them, with member Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, accused of displaying a flag in support of proscribed terror organisation Hezbollah at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, on November 21st, 2024.
But the case was thrown out in September last year, with chief magistrate Paul Goldspring ruling the proceedings were “instituted unlawfully”, with a subsequent appeal by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) being dismissed by two High Court judges in March this year.
Earlier in the day, singer Lola Young played a secret set on the main stage, performing her hit song Messy in a Vivienne Westwood bodysuit with her signature statement earrings.
Also headlining the final day of the festival were drum and bass duo Chase & Status, known for hits such as 2023’s Baddadan and 2017’s All Goes Wrong.
London indie rock stalwarts Florence + The Machine also took to the main stage earlier in the evening, with singer Florence Welch serenading the crowd with songs such as Everybody Scream, Shake It Out and You Got The Love, with Idles’ Mark Bowen on guitar.
Closing their set, Kneecap performed THE RECAP, their 2025 track which confronts the media scrutiny and political backlash the band faced for their pro-Palestine stance and police investigations.
Set to a drum and bass backdrop by collaborator Mozey, they ended the festival with a crowd as bouncing and energetic as ever.
