Mull It Over 042: KNEECAP - Live at the SSE Arena, Belfast
A celebration of life and language at Belfast's SSE Arena, where KNEECAP stake their claim as one of the most important acts in recent memory.
Walking up to Belfast’s SSE Arena the Saturday before Christmas - the energy (and the cold) was palpable. A quick scan of the crowd and you will have found GAA top-sporting youngsters queuing alongside old school punks, ages ranging from 16 to 60; the bitter Belfast air doing little to quell an undeniable sense of joy and celebration permeating amongst the revellers. Across the Lagan the city centre was heaving with last minute Christmas shoppers and the fumes of boozy work lunches, enough to put you off large crowds and shit, expensive Guinness for life. However, just a mile across the river, something altogether more real was happening. Underneath all the thundering there’s magic.
KNEECAP - the riotous West Belfast rap group are wrapping up what has been, quite frankly, an extraordinary 2024. The small matter of releasing their boundlessly fun, fiery and critically acclaimed debut album, Fine Art to one side, they also managed to squeeze in a legal win over the UK Government over withheld arts funding and release the exceedingly boisterous KNEECAP film, starring none other than Michael Fassbender - a show that currently sits on two Oscar shortlists - one for Best International Feature and the other for Best Original Song for their satirically, socially conscious “Sick In The Head”. Not since 8 Mile has a music film with such little distance between the subject matter and the protagonists (all three play themselves) done such an acute job of capturing lightning in a bottle. And much like 8 Mile before it, it is a funny and serious romp. Totally class all round.
So, as they headed to Belfast’s big room with 9000 adoring fans lying in wait, you wouldn’t be surprised to see tragedy and comedy follow these three lads right up to the house lights going down. On the completely on brand, daft side of KNEECAP, their merchandise was, earlier in the day, banned from the stalls at the SSE Arena. No guessing which items resulted in that decision. However, no strangers to spinning a story in their favour - a last minute pop-up market was set up in Belfast’s Telegraph Building, only to be shut down as well, before eventually settling in The Limelight club on Ormeau Avenue, where the band flogged their wares until, apparently, much like the SSE Arena, it was a sell out.
But much like their music, the brutal reality of life sits unnervingly beside the silly anecdotes for KNEECAP, and it was only a mere 24 hours prior that Gearóid Ó Cairealláin, father of the group’s Moglaí Bap and renowned Irish language revolutionary and community activist, sadly passed away. The stories coming out on the day of the show quickly painted a picture of a well loved, important figure in Belfast’s Gaelic speaking community, a man who pushed forward a language that many have sought to deride, ridicule and use as political leverage over the decades. Many wondered if the show would go ahead considering the enormity of the tragedy. The band addressed this themselves, early in the day -
Tonight’s concert at the SSE arena will be the largest Irish language gig in the city’s history.
Nothing would have made him prouder.
Tonight is for him.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
And so it came to be. 9000 strong in the SSE Arena, waiting to see a hip-hop group from West Belfast rap in Gaelic for two hours. Fantastic Irish post-punkers Gurriers kicked off proceedings with Gemma Dunleavy and, notably, Shankill-based rapper Young Spencer. A true sign of time times and a reminder that for all the political edge you might think you find in KNEECAP’s music - if you are not in on the joke, as it were, you might just find yourself scratching your head. Life isn’t black or white or green and orange, there’s a lot of in between, what you might call ‘narrow ground’ - Young Spencer’s presence tonight amongst 9000 ‘fenian cu*ts’ shows that that ground is widening.
But tonight, the city is KNEECAP’s. Bringing their full stacked debut Fine Art finally, to the big stage they deliver a scurrilous set that threads the needle through a hip-hop, rave, rap-rock and folk landscape - a lot of which can be attributed to producer on the album, Toddla T - notwithstanding the vital importance of DJ Provaí behind the decks.
As they careen through their set which includes the aforementioned “Sick In The Head”, ‘3CAG”, “Get Your Brits Out” and “H.O.OD” among others, it is the levity they bring to the stage tonight between the songs which is the glue that holds this provocative and expletive filled night together. A lot of it I won’t repeat, but I’m sure you can give it your best guess. In complete antidotal fashion to, for example, KNEECAP’s noisy neighbours Fontaines D.C. who performed their very own illuminating hometown arena show at the 3Arena in Dublin just two weeks prior - where there was little to no crowd interaction from the moody maestros - KNEECAP chatted pure shite throughout, to the great joy of the crowd and band alike.
And speaking of Fontaines D.C …
Who else but the frontman of what must surely now be the world’s hottest rock band, Grian Chatten graced the stage for a rousing performance of arguably the most popular song the young band have under their belts - “Better Way To Live”. A song about the clarity one experiences when staying off the drink - there was no risk of that tonight as Chatten, adorned in sunglasses and a leather jacket (as if there was any doubt to who the boy was) took a few swigs of Buckfast before departing stage left.
All that remained was an emotional encore that featured a display of the late Gearóid Ó Cairealláin on the big screen as the headliners, support acts and special guests joined in a moving singalong of The Pogues’ ubiquitous Christmas anthem “Fairytale of New York”. Everyone arm in arm, the only person left out was Moglaí Bap, choosing instead to rest one footed on the stage monitor, seemingly taking in what just might be the most affecting moment of the young man’s life so far, as 9000 plus paid tribute to his dad.
And then it was over. A triumphant homecoming for Belfast’s young rappers in a year that has been extraordinary, not only for KNEECAP, but for the arts in Ireland in general.
Next stop, the Oscars.
Má tá tú beannaithe go leor bheith ina Éireannach, tá tú beannaithe go deo.
Thank you for reading issue 42 of Mull It Over.