Latest news with #WideAwakeFestival


Irish Post
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Kneecap announce London gig which will be their ‘biggest ever' headline show
KNEECAP have confirmed a London gig this year which will be their 'biggest headline show' to date. The Belfast rap group, made up of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí, revealed the gig via their social media platforms today. It will take place at Wembley Arena on Thursday, September 18, the band said, describing the location as 'the belly of the beast'. Pre-sale tickets will be available from tomorrow while general release tickets go on sale from Friday, June 6. All London heads...💥 Our biggest ever headline show outside of Ireland will take place on September 18th at the OVO Wembley Arena. 🔥 - Pre-sale is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10am in our WhatsApp channel. - General sale is 10am this Friday. The belly of the beast - let's go! — KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) June 3, 2025 The announcement comes after the band played a sold out set at the Wide Awake Festival in London's Brockwell park on May 23. Their planned gig at the TRNSMT festival in Glasgow, which was cancelled after police raised safety concerns, has been rescheduled to July 8 at the city's 02 Academy. Kneecap's Mo Chara pictured on stage at the Wide Awake Festival 2025 at Brockwell Park in south London on May 23, 2025 Tickets for the new gig sold out in 30 seconds, according to the band. Prior to that the band have a confirmed slot at this year's Glastonbury festival - where they will play the West Holts stage on Saturday, June 28. Last month the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command charged band member Mo Chara, real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, with a terror offence over a Palestinian flag displayed at a show at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London on November 21, 2024. The force said that the 27-year-old displayed the flag "in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation, namely Hezbollah". He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, June 18. See More: Gig, Kneecap, London, Wembley


RTÉ News
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Kneecap set for biggest UK show at Wembley
Irish rap trio Kneecap have announced their biggest UK headline show to date, taking place at London's OVO Arena Wembley on 18 September. The Belfast-based group, Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí, shared the news on social media with the message: "The belly of the beast – let's go." Tickets go on pre-sale via the group's WhatsApp channel from 10am on Wednesday, with general sale on Friday. The announcement follows a run of high-profile festival appearances, including a sold-out set at London's Wide Awake Festival and a confirmed slot at this year's Glastonbury. However, they were recently pulled from the TRNSMT festival line-up in Glasgow after police raised safety concerns. A replacement headline show at Glasgow's O2 Academy is now scheduled for July. Kneecap made headlines last month when group member Mo Chara (real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) was charged with a terror offence in the UK relating to an alleged incident at a London gig in 2023. The group have denied any wrongdoing and said they intend to defend the charge. Their upcoming Irish shows include a sold-out gig at Dublin's Fairview Park on 19 June and two nights at the 3Arena on 16 and 17 December.


Perth Now
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Kneecap will still headline 2000trees despite recent controversy
Kneecap will still headline 2000trees as planned. The Irish rap group have come under fire in recent weeks after a string of controversies, but the annual festival in Cheltenham, UK have confirmed they will remain co-headliners with PVRIS on the second day of the July 9-12 event. In a post on Instagram, they wrote: "After loads of speculation and numerous requests from the press of late, we are happy to confirm that YES! Kneecap are still headlining the Thursday at 2000trees this July. 'If their recent shows in London are anything to go by, this promises to be one of the most memorable headline sets we've ever had at 2000trees. 'Do not miss it – Glasto is obviously sold out we're not far behind – so if you want to see the most talked about band in ages, you need to bag a 2000trees ticket before they all sell out!" Other headliners set across the four-day event include Hot Milk, Taking Back Sunday, Coheed and Cambria, and Alexisonfire. Kneecap - made up of Mo Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai - are no strangers to 2000trees, but organisers have promised "something else entirely" for their headline set. They continued: "You may have even seen Kneecap at 2000trees before, this will be their 3rd visit after all. "But headlining the main stage this summer is going to be something else entirely! "We will ALL be there in the pit with you for one of the most exciting, fun and historic sets you'll see this summer." Earlier on Wednesday (28.05.25), it was confirmed that Kneecap's TRNSMT performance the same week as 2000trees has been cancelled. A festival spokesperson told NME: "Due to concerns expressed by the Police about safety at the event, Kneecap will no longer perform at TRNSMT on Friday July 11. We thank fans for their understanding.' Last week, the trio headline London's Wide Awake Festival - which followed a warm-up show at the 100 Club - and both events happened without any safety issues. Last week, Mo Chara - real name Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh - was charged with a terror offense in the UK, as London's Metropolitan Police accused him of "displaying a flag in support of proscribed organisation Hezbollah" at O2 Forum gig in London in November 2024. Following the investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service authorised the charge, with both Hamas and Hezbollah banned in the UK, while it is a crime to express support for either of them. The group insisted they have never support either organisation. They also claimed another video - in which they allegedly told a London crowd "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP" - was taken "out of context".


Extra.ie
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Kneecap donate Wide Awake earnings to Médecins Sans Frontières
The charity organisation has provided humanitarian assistance to Gaza for more than 20 years. Kneecap has donated earnings from their Wide Awake Festival headline show to Médecins Sans Frontières. The Irish group played at the London festival in Brockwell Park last Friday, May 23, to a sold-out crowd. The lineup also included Irish acts CMAT and Curtisy. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Alternative rock band English Teacher also played at the festival and stated during their performance that they 'were proud to share the stage with people who stand up against oppression'. Kneecap's pledge to donate their headline fee to the charity, also known as Doctors Without Borders, came just days after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, was charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert last year. Addressing the charge from the stage on Friday, Ó hAnnaidh said: I went for an interview with counter-terror police and within days, they came to their verdict that they were going to charge me. He also added that 'they tried to stop this gig, honestly, you have no idea how close they came to pulling us.' Kneecap recently released their latest single 'The Recap Ft. Mozey (Bootleg Version)', which takes aim at the UK's Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch.

The Journal
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Journal
'In the belly of the beast': Here's what the British press thought of Kneecap's London gig
'THEY TRIED TO stop this gig,' Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh (aka Mo Chara) proclaimed at the start of Kneecap's festival set in London on Friday night. 'Honestly lads, you've no idea how close we were to being pulled off this gig. Has anybody been watching the news?' You've likely heard the news that the Belfast rapper is referring to – last week, Ó hAnnaidh was formally charged under the UK's Terrorism Act and is scheduled to appear in court on 18 June. Ó hAnnaidh was charged in connection with allegedly displaying a flag supporting Hezbollah during a gig in London last November, according to UK police. The charge follows the circulation of a video of Kneecap's performance at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London. The video drew media attention last month and was later reviewed by police, leading to the launch of a formal investigation and a charge against Ó hAnnaidh. Kneecap have explicitly denied ever supporting Hezbollah or Hamas since the concert video resurfaced. Just days after the charge was announced, Kneecap fans turned out in force on Friday to support the Irish-language hip-hop trio at their biggest ever festival headline gig. Kneecap played on the main stage at Wide Awake Festival in Brockwell Park in London, despite calls from several leading UK politicians for the festival to not allow the Belfast trio to take to the stage. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Wide Awake (@wideawakeldn) To their critics (of which Kneecap have many in the UK), they're reckless agitators who have finally crossed the line – during Friday's gig, the band joked about appearing 'in the belly of the beast'. Advertisement Despite the widespread criticism that the trio face in the UK, the gig received rave reviews. 'What a craic' The band received four out of five stars in The Guardian's review of the Wide Awake gig. In the review, Kneecap's activism on Gaza was hailed as 'patently heartfelt rather than posturing radical chic'. Despite missing several fadas in the band members' names and ending the review with the line 'what a craic' (just terrible), the Guardian looked fondly on Northern Irish band's activism – and ketamine references – saying that Kneecap are still performing 'loud and proud'. The Telegraph, who previously described Kneecap as 'the pop provacateurs who went too far' and 'bona fide media folk devils', similarly gave the band four out of five stars in their review of the Friday gig. Their review described how Kneecap 'presided over a 90-minute carnival of mayhem, defiance and controversy' in London, adding that the audience was 'one big party'. 'Who would have thought it? The controversies only seem to have fired up Kneecap's supporters,' The Telegraph's James Hall wrote. View this post on Instagram A post shared by KNEECAP (@kneecap32) He made sure to separate the art from the artist however, adding: 'I can't defend Kneecap. There's reclaiming your culture and there's saying stupid things, and in trying to do the former they've done a lot of the latter.' The London Evening Standard also awarded the gig four stars, hailing the group as 'irreverent, ambitious and irrefutably themselves'. Describing how the band encouraged the crowd to belt out the chorus to Your Sniffer Dogs are Shite, the review claimed: 'that's ballsy, and those weren't even the most eyebrow-raising lyrics'. Kneecap once again earned four stars from The Times, with the paper's chief rock and pop critic Will Hodgkinson stating that the band created an 'historic moment' in front of 20,000 adoring fans on Friday. Highlighting that Kneecap had donated the entirety of their fee from the festival to Médecins Sans Frontières, who have a number of staff aiding people across Gaza, Hodgkinson also described the gig as 'seriously good'. 'Exciting, funny and anarchic, with a rebellious edge that has not been seen in rock or rap for years,' he wrote. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal