Last Friday I was lucky enough to attend the Kneecap gig in Wythenshawe Park, Manchester.
Technically it was a Fontaines D.C. gig, with Kneecap performing as support. But with the recent state repression and media frenzy around Kneecap, coupled with the huge support for the group, even the most hardcore Fontaines fan admitted that it felt more like Kneecap’s night.
In fact, Kneecap rapper Mo Chara playfully joked that it was nice of Fontaines to come along and headline for them.
In the weeks leading up to the gig, there were some voices on Manchester’s Labour council and local Labour (former Tory) ‘friend-of-Israel’ MP, Christian Wakeford, demanding that they were banned from playing.
Fortunately the promoters this time saw sense, and did not follow suit with the recent gig venues and festivals that have tried to silence Kneecap’s message.
Last night’s entertainment…
Fontaines DC and KNEECAP at Wythenshawe Park. pic.twitter.com/b7SKTi8HKZ— Nick J. Brown (@NorthernMailman) August 16, 2025
Like a Palestine rally
The general attire for the gig looked remarkably similar to a Palestine rally, with many young revellers adorned in Keffiyehs and holding Palestine flags.
The other bands on the bill – The Murder Capital, English Teacher, and Fontaines DC – all spoke out in support of Palestine and for an end to the genocide, and projected Palestine flags and slogans calling out the Israeli state throughout parts of their sets.
The real sharp end of this attitude, however, was always going to be when Kneecap took the stage.
Better Way to Live live from Manchester on Friday night with Grian Chatten @fontainesdublin 💚🤍🧡
🎥 @aaron_coates & off-season creative pic.twitter.com/POHVzTUGyS
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) August 18, 2025
Just before they did I made my way down to the front, as I often do at any gigs and festivals that I attend.
However this time I was struck by the absolute electric energy coming from the young crowd when I got down there.
In all my gig-going years, I have never felt anything quite like it. The cries of ‘Free Free Palestine’ rang throughout the crowd as the band took to the stage to immense cheers.
Individual screams of ‘Justice for Mo Chara’ could be heard as soon as he appeared on the screens, in reference to him scandalously facing ‘terror’ charges next week.
As some people nearby me held up their Palestine flags, I raised my copies of Issue 33 of The Communist. The striking front page certainly caught people’s attention and within seconds a girl tapped me on the back and asked if she could have a copy.
As I was explaining to her what the paper was and that we sell them, others listening in also asked to buy copies. In total I sold seven copies just seconds before the group started their set. In truth, I could have sold more, but that’s all I had on me!
View this post on Instagram
Internationalism and solidarity
When Kneecap started up the place went absolutely wild. There was a great feeling of internationalism, as young British, Irish, and British Asian youth around me all attempted to scream word-for-word the group’s Irish lyrics back at them.
The band for their part did not disappoint, their set was incredible and had the whole crowd jumping around, singing and dancing the whole time.
They also did not disappoint from a political point of view. One of the things that has marked Kneecap out, from other bands and artists who’ve more passively voiced support for Palestine, is their absolute uncompromising and unapologetic nature of doing so.
Mo Chara spoke about how as young Irish people growing up in West Belfast and Derry, that understanding their own history allows them to understand the nature of living under occupation and imperialism in general.
They firmly tied the barbarism on show in Gaza to western imperialism and again linked this to British imperialism’s role in Ireland.
It was interesting that when they spoke about British imperialism, the majority British-born crowd rang out with a chorus of boos.
So electric was the mood that, at one point Mo Chara tried to tell the crowd to “Feel free to open up a pit”, but a slight misunderstanding of his Belfast accent meant that he only got as far as “Feel free” before the crowd responded with “PALESTINE”. Roaring with laughter he commented “jeez, ye’s are eager ain’t ye?”
❤️ @ Live From Wythenshawe Park, Manchester, 15/8/2025 #kneecap #ニーキャップ pic.twitter.com/khS2hsjQJZ
— aoao (@hotori_radio) August 16, 2025
Radicalisation
As the set ended it felt as though nobody wanted it to be over. Most people at the front stood for a few moments, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, as if needing a minute to take in what they had just been part of.
I saw a girl in the crowd, wrapped in a keffiyeh, overwhelmed to tears as one of her friends hugged her. It really was an emotional feeling. Strangers who moments earlier had been jumping around and singing together were now smiling and embracing each other as they went their separate ways, now that it was all over.
Overall the feeling in the crowd was one of love and solidarity – a far cry from how the press and politicians have tried to paint the group, when fearmongering around their shows in the media.
The almost 30,000 people in the crowd indicates how the discredited establishment is now unable to really get a hold with its lies anymore – especially amongst this particular angry-yet-hopeful layer of radicalised young people.
As Communists, we often talk about the fresh, radicalised layers of mainly young people who are wide open to revolutionary and communist ideas. We talk of them being ‘out there’ in general. Well, this crowd was them – almost 30,000 of them!
We need to be ready to intervene at moments like this. With ‘politics’ in general becoming so discredited, music and culture can express the accumulated anger that exists out there. I think that is what we are witnessing here with the support for Kneecap.
