Irish group Kneecap took to the stage at Glasgow’s O2 Academy and wasted no time in calling out the Scottish First Minister after being dropped from the TRNSMT lineup
Irish rap trio Kneecap have left a scathing response to Scottish First Minister John Swinney following their axe from TRNSMT Festival. The bad were set to play a sell-out show at the Glasgow event, but were removed from the bill due to safety concerns.
Now, band members Mo Chara – who was recently charged with a terror offence, which he denies – Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí, has slammed the decision, which came by Police Scotland at the end of May. They had initially been billed to headline the King Tut’s stage on Friday, but were axed.
Instead, they played to a sold out crowd at the city’s O2 Academy on Tuesday. Such is the band’s popularity, the event sold out within 80 seconds.
In May, Swinney had called for the July 11 performance to be called off, urging the organisers to consider the issue of safety. He said: “It would be unacceptable to perform on such a stage given the fact their comments are so beyond the pale.”
In the end DF Concerts, who run the event, decided to remove their slot from the event. Despite their removal, the band wasn’t prepared to let it go quietly.
According to the BBC the Irish musicians took just 10 minutes to address the situation at their Tuesday evening gig. Chara is said to have told the crowd: “What’s your First Minister’s name?” before swearing and saying: “They stopped us playing TRNSMT but they can’t stop us playing Glasgow.”
They added they didn’t feel as though it was the fault of the festival. Instead, the pointed the finger at Prime Minister Keir Starmer, getting another chant going against him after he called for the band to be dropped from Glastonbury.
Prior to the show, the band arrived at the venue amidst a sea of Palestine flags from Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaigners. In May, Chara, whose real name is Liam Og O Hannaigh, was charged with a terrorism offence relating to displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in London last November.
The 27-year-old artist from Belfast was charged with displaying a flag at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, North London, on November 21, “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation”, a statement said.
The force added at the time: “Officers from the Met’s counter terrorism command were made aware on Tuesday April 22 of an online video from the event. An investigation was carried out, which led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the above charge.”
The band continue to strongly deny the charges brought against the star. They previously released a statement to insist they will “vehemently defend” themselves against what they claimed was “political policing”.
They have since had a controversial gig at Glastonbury too. The stage was shut down early due to huge numbers before the band played to a raucous crowd and made a number of shocking statements.
The BBC decided against live streaming the set, much to the disappointment of fans at home.
