Kneecap are going from strength to strength this year. Following the release of their second album Fine Art in June they embarked on a summer full of festivals. Glastonbury being the most notable where they were subject to rave reviews and even brought out Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. to sing Better Way To Live. Now, in the penultimate month of the year, they return to The Barrowland Ballroom for two nights under its apt green roof just over a year after they first played here.
All photos by Murron Gallagher @mrrngllghr
Intentions were set even before the boys took to the stage. “Free Palestine” echoed around the room as Irish and Palestinian flags were thrust into the air. Soon DJ Próvaí rose up from behind the DJ decks to the sound of 3CAG and Mo Chara and Mógalí Bap soon joined him on stage to launch into ITS BEEN AGES.
It’s fair to say that the energy levels in the crowd were more synonymous to those at a rave than a gig. Kneecap tracks have a consistent beat that make them impossible to not dance to. The cheers after ITS BEEN AGES ended were enormous as the boys struggled to get a word through the noise. When they finally did it was to say “Glasgow, this is best crowd we’ve had so far” and the cheering only increased.
All photos by Murron Gallagher @mrrngllghr
Each track was sung word for word as mosh pits formed everywhere. The minority at the back were even jokingly called out by the lads “How are all the pensioner, old fossils doing down the back”. “It’s getting cold, you better get home, the winters coming!!”. Encouraging the crowd to look out for one another and ask for help if they needed any the boys saw another opportunity to have a laugh “Security have actually just given us a message…you need to throw all your drugs…up on stage”
Mógalí Bap has been running 10K every day of this tour to raise money to send food parcels to Gaza. He is already 90k in tonight and tells the crowd to meet him outside The Ballroom tomorrow morning to join him running around Glasgow.
H.O.O.D ended the night and the whole room became frantic. It felt as if the entire Ballroom floor had transformed into one massive mosh pit as DJ Próvaí got down to the barrier to sing before jumping into the crowd.
Kneecap delivered an electrifying performance on night one of two at the Barras. The trio are ready for what the next few years have in store for them and it seems their fans can hardly wait.
