Kneecap address Trump state visit during rousing gig at Wembley Arena

By Hannah Roberts, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter

Belfast rap trio Kneecap addressed Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK during a rousing gig at Wembley Arena where they told fans music artists are “filling a void” left by politicians.

Before taking to the stage at their London show, a message was displayed on the wall that read: “Starmer welcomed Isaac Herzog to this city like a king last week. Today Trump is here, the man who permits the slaughter.”

Thursday’s concert coincided with the final day of the US president’s visit, a week after Sir Keir Starmer met with Israel’s president at Number 10th.

Mid performance, during a break between songs, one of the band members could be heard saying: “Is Donald Trump in f****** England? For f**** sake.

Naoise O Caireallain, who performs under the stage name Moglai Bap, added “release the f****** files”, appearing to make reference to calls for the Trump administration to put all documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigations before the public.

Liam Og O hAnnaidh, also known as Mo Chara, then led the crowd in chants of “f*** the Royal Family”, having also led them in chants of “f*** Keir Starmer”.

Supported by Irish post-punk band Gurriers and London artist Jelani Blackman, the evening also saw a special audio-visual presentation from trip hop collective Massive Attack followed by a speech from director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Ben Jamal.

The group, which also includes JJ O’Dochartaigh (DJ Provai) performed tracks including Better Way To Live, featuring Fontaines DC singer Grian Chatten, Sick In The Head and Hood.

In another address to the audience, O hAnnaidh added: “People like us, people like Massive Attack, other acts that decide to use their time on stage to talk about Palestine.

“At the end of the day, all we’re doing is filling a void that the politicians aren’t filling.

“The reasons that musician and artists are always the people that are the spearhead of these kind of campaigns and movements is because the politicians won’t do it.

“And what happens is artists have platforms like this where we can talk to people without interference from the Government, on the most part.”

O hAnnaidh also addressed his upcoming court date and said he “wasn’t the first and won’t be the last Irish man” faced with a terror charge in a London court.

The 27-year-old is charged with the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a gig in November last year.

O hAnnaidh will return to Westminster Magistrates’ Court on September 26th, after his legal team argued the case should be thrown out due to a technical error in the way the charge was brought against him.

At the adjourned hearing in September, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring will rule on whether he has the jurisdiction to try the case.

Their arena gig comes after months of sold-out shows and festival performances across the country, including a set at the Glastonbury Festival in June which was investigated by Avon and Somerset Police, who later said they would be taking “no further action”.

Kneecap initially hit headlines in April when footage emerged that appeared to show a band member saying “Kill your local MP” at one gig and saying “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” at another.

The group, who are known for their provocative lyrics and merchandise as well as their championing of the Irish language and pro-Palestine stance, have apologised to the families of murdered MPs and said they have “never supported” Hamas or Hezbollah.