{"id":251287,"date":"2025-07-09T17:12:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T17:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251287\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T17:12:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T17:12:12","slug":"they-cant-stop-us-playing-glasgow-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251287\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They can\u2019t stop us playing Glasgow\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kneecap<\/a> has responded to Scotland\u2019s first minister on Tuesday night as the Irish rap trio performed a gig in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

The group was set to play the TRNSMT festival in the city this weekend, but their spot was cut following concerns raised by police.<\/p>\n

John Swinney had also called for the festival to not allow the band play, describing their appearance at the festival as \u201cunacceptable\u201d given comments that he said were \u201cbeyond the pale\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to BBC<\/a> Scotland, Liam \u00d3 hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, addressed the comments 10 minutes into the gig at Glasgow\u2019s O2 Academy.<\/p>\n

He asked the crowd: \u201cWhat\u2019s your first minister\u2019s name?\u201d before swearing and adding: \u201cThey stopped us playing TRNSMT but they can\u2019t stop us playing Glasgow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band said the row around their cancellation from the festival had suggested their shows were \u201chate-fests\u201d but said they were about inclusion and love.<\/p>\n

The band sparked controversy after footage emerged that appeared to show \u00d3 hAnnaidh allegedly holding a Hizbullah<\/a> flag.<\/p>\n

\u00d3 hAnnaidh was subsequently charged with a terrorist offence but has been released under unconditional bail.<\/p>\n

Ahead of TRNSMT, Police Scotland had warned their appearance could require a large police presence.<\/p>\n

\"(left(left to right) Mo Chara, Mogla\u00ed Bap and DJ Pr\u00f3va\u00ed from Kneecap performing on stage at London’s Finsbury Park. Photograph: Jeff Moore\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

The band, which includes member JJ \u00d3 Dochartaigh, who performs under the name DJ Pr\u00f3va\u00ed, and Naoise \u00d3 Caireall\u00e1in, who performs under the name M\u00f3gla\u00ed Bap, said they did not believe their cancellation from TRSNMT was the festival\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n

During their Glasgow show, they also led chants against Britain\u2019s prime minister Keir Starmer, who had called for the group to be cut from festivals in England.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s show at the O2 in Glasgow had sold out in 80 seconds and saw a number of people, including \u00d3 Caireall\u00e1in, wear Celtic shirts, while many others donned the Irish tricolour.<\/p>\n

Pro-Palestine protesters also gathered outside of the festival and spoke in support of Kneecap.<\/p>\n

The band welcomed the activists, writing on social media: \u201cSome scenes outside the venue for tonight\u2019s gig in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

\u201cHats off to the dozens of Palestine activists who\u2019ve been here all day.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuzzing to play one of our favourite cities for a show that sold out in seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the O2 show, the band had made a number of jokes about Rangers FC, but told the audience they had \u201cmore in common with a poor Rangers fan than a rich Celtic fan\u201d as they called for working class unity.<\/p>\n

\u00d3 hAnnaidh led critiques against Israel but said they were aimed at \u201cthe government, not the people\u201d, the BBC said.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster reported the biggest reaction of the night came after \u00d3 hAnnaidh said the UK government had \u201cdone nothing for Ireland and nothing for Glasgow\u201d.<\/p>\n

Police say a woman was arrested for failing to leave a licensed premises and a man and woman were arrested for breach of the peace.<\/p>\n

\"Kneecap'sKneecap’s Mo Chara and M\u00f3gla\u00ed Bap during day four of Glastonbury festival 2025. Photograph: Leon Neal\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

The band had previously attracted controversy after a clip that emerged from a gig in 2023 appeared to show a member saying: \u201cThe only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police<\/a> decided last month not to prosecute any of the members of Belfast<\/a> rap group over the alleged comments. <\/p>\n

Kneecap apologised to Katie Amess, the daughter of Tory MP David Amess who was murdered in 2021, as well as the family of Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was murdered in 2016.<\/p>\n

The group said their actions, including allegedly holding the Hizbullah flag, had been taken out of context.<\/p>\n

They claim the controversies are part of a smear campaign against them because of their vocal support for Palestine and criticism of Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza, which they say is a genocide.\u2212 PA <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kneecap has responded to Scotland\u2019s first minister on Tuesday night as the Irish rap trio performed a gig…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,28540,918,4884,28538,28539,28541,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-251287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dj-provai","10":"tag-glasgow","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-kneecap","13":"tag-mo-chara","14":"tag-moglai-bap","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114824396736237615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}