“One day it will be controversial for the people, the celebrities, the bands who didn’t speak out about Palestine. We will remember the c..ts that did f..k all, and so will f..kin’ history.”  Kneecap, Glastonbury June 28, 2025

Kneecap have comprehensively defeated the entire British political class. Even the BBC felt morally obliged to stream their Glastonbury set despite pressure from Starmer, Badenoch (apparently she’s currently leader of the Conservative Party), Farage, a load of music industry suits and the entire pro-Israel lobby.

It’s a bit like that 1961 film Wonderful To Be Young! in which Cliff Richard and his pals take on the forces of grasping capitalism and scupper the plans of the evil property tycoon Hamilton Black. 

The Belfast Fenians are playing for much higher stakes than the demolition of the local youth club, but the basic premise is the same. Youth are radicalised against injustice and mobilise against the powerful to face it down through the power of culture and solidarity. I am sure Cliff Richard is proud of this aspect of his legacy.

Even Rod Stewart, a man who made headlines over the weekend for coming out in support of Farage, told The Times “It’s depressing, what’s going on in the Gaza Strip,” he says. “Netanyahu doesn’t realise that this is what happened to his people under the Nazis: total annihilation. And Trump is going to turn the Gaza Strip into Miami?” This direct comparison of Netanyahu’s regime to the Nazis would have created uproar a year ago, now the scale of the slaughter invites the comparison, and no one raises an eyebrow.

A bewildering thing about the attempts to silence Kneecap is that when people like Starmer are in search of a quick reactionary soundbite to please reform voters, they do nothing but increase the group’s popularity and confirm that virtually the entire British political class is giving unconditional support for what Sir Rod calls “total annihilation” in Gaza. That is why Kneecap’s stage was mobbed almost an hour before the start of their set, why the crowd chanted “fuck Keir Starmer” and “Free Palestine” and why the uncompromising political messages between the songs were cheered by a crowd waving hundreds of Palestinian flags.

The only way to explain it is that when you have decided you are on the side of a genocidal state you have to go the whole way and get outraged on its behalf because of a brief bit of chanting by Bob Vylan and the north’s favourite sons. Chanting bad. Industrial murder legitimate self-defence.

The utterly unbreakable principles of the group strengthen the movement of which they are a part and from which they draw their strength. In between all the swearing and moshing it is a beautiful thing to watch. It is also a beautiful thing to be part of which is why it is utterly impossible to get tickets for their London show this weekend. By contrast tickets for The Stereophonics at the same venue the day before are virtually being given away on Twickets.

You do have to feel a bit sorry for the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Shed Seven and Gary Numan who have been plodding away for years only to find themselves made irrelevant by a bunch of people shouting tiocfaidh ár lá and Free Palestine and representing a global movement making the ruling class look like villains from rubbish 1960s films.

We should also spare a thought for Bono, a man who has supported Israel for his whole career. Not even nepo babies are immune from the power of a mass youth movement. The Daily Telegraph, in a very pro-Kneecap piece not typical of it unhinged output, reported “CMAT and rock group Inhaler (led by Bono’s son Elijah Hewson) – led chants of “Free Palestine” yesterday, possibly as much in solidarity with their fellow Irishmen as the Palestinian cause. None of that caused even the remotest flurry at a festival that had its origins in the hippy era of peace and love.”

Kneecap have kicked a door for musicians and opponents of genocide that won’t be closed again.