Contested performance by rap trio is forceful, urgent and impossible to suppress

Amid political furore, Kneecap's Glastonbury set embodied what hip-hop has always been about, writes Louis Chilton

- Louis Chilton

Let’s begin with some context. In the months leading up to yesterday’s Glastonbury performance, Kneecap, the livewire hip-hop trio from west Belfast and Derry, have been the subject of a protracted and polarising scandal.

Much of it revolves around the terrorism charge hanging over 27-year-old vocalist Liam Ó hAnnaidh, who is on bail after allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a gig in November, and saying, “Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah.”

Ó hAnnaidh has argued that he was unaware of the meaning of the flag, which he says was thrown onto the stage by a member of the crowd, and has maintained that his on-stage comments were a joke, made in the character of his stage persona, Mo Chara. But the controversy has had quite the groundswell ahead of the festival, 30 music executives authored a letter calling for Kneecap to be removed from the lineup; after this was leaked, more than 100 prominent musicians and bands signed a letter in support of them. Keir Starmer, meanwhile, said that it was “not appropriate” for the group, who have continued to issue vocal support for Palestine since Ó hAnnaidh’s arrest, to perform at Glastonbury.