Ever since Kneecap exploded into the worldwide public consciousness with their Michael Fassbender starring knockout film Kneecap, they haven’t stopped, and nor have their audiences wanted them to. The film was a darling of the festival circuit, winning the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award: NEXT, and dominating the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), winning seven awards, including Best British Independent Film. It went on to be selected by The Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) for Ireland’s official submission to the 2025 Oscars, and it made it to the final 15 films shortlisted for the International Feature category, although that’s where the film’s Oscar journey ended.
One of the most charming things about the film was the fact that Kneecap played themselves, with considerable skill for first-time actors. They were utterly charming, very funny and deadly serious, bombastically iconoclastic, and completely unattached to working the system. That raw energy is what makes their shows a complete frenzy, and a focal point for anyone who wants to exercise their dissent, and it was no different on the Saturday that Kneecap descended on Sydney, in the middle of heatwave.
The tour has been a complete sell out, and they had already played New Zealand and packed out Federation Square in Melbourne by the time they got to the Roundhouse. The following day another jumping crowd crammed in to seem them at Dermot Kennedy’s Misneach Festival in the Domain. Kneecap seem genuinely thrilled to have found an audience for their message so far from home, and although a good proportion of the audience down under is formed from the Irish diaspora, they are plenty who find common cause with the core seam of anti-Establishment, specifically anti- British, and anti-colonial power structures. It helps that the tunes have catchy melodies, and are at times completely hilarious. DJ Provaà may be the first person who has made a balaclava kind of sexy.
They were supported by Miss Kaninna, who as always gave a great performance, and covered her biggest hits like Blak Britney, as well as treating the crowd to some new material and a traditional song from her own childhood. Kneecap and Miss Kaninna were completely complementary, and have clearly developed a great appreciation for each other’s music.
Kneecap have made the effort to understand the issues faced by First Nations people in Australia, and how the oppressive hand of colonialism has effected two countries, Ireland and Australia, at different ends of the earth. They also drew the parallel and spoke passionately about the occupation of Palestine throughout the night. Â Both Kneecap and Miss Kaninna stressed the need to hang on to indigenous languages as a way of preserving culture and memory and pride. Many of Kneecap’s songs are primarily sung in Irish, and Miss Kaninna treated the crowd to music in Indigenous language, which was wonderfully connecting, and only reminded us that she’s a massive star already made and also in the making.Â
Once Kneecap got going so did the crowd. The moshpit is not for the faint hearted, and the Irresistible magazine team managed to last for the first three or four songs in order to get some shots, which is exactly three or four more songs than was safe. From the relative calm of the balcony it was easier to see how fighty the crowd was getting, but also what a good time everyone was having. The encore of their massive hits Get Your Brits Out and H.O.O.D. brought the house down.
What may have pushed Kneecap up so high in the minds of cultural commentators, and given them such appeal beyond their traditional base, is they’re the other side of the don’t- give- a- fuck- attitude that we have only been experiencing from the far right over the last few years. It’s the right that are smashing up the institutions and laying claim to a new space that they are making in their own image. And it’s not going to be pretty. Kneecap have emerged at a time when everything is up for grabs, and they’re demanding a voice for minorities, social justice, and are encouraging the pulling down of power structures that keep much of society trapped, without saying that Andrew Tate is great. Even through the sweaty shouting, it’s refreshing. Rightly or wrongly, many have projected onto these three lads from West Belfast their hopes that this trio represent a precursor of the confidence that the left is yet to garner.
In 1993, when then Prime Minister of Australia Paul Keating tasked a future Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with finding a way to make Australia a Republic, the issue might not have been the constitutional knots the Republic Advisory Committee were about to tie themselves in, Â but rather that only one member of Kneecap had even been born, and Get Yer Brits Out was not yet available as a theme tune. If anyone understands getting the U.K. out of your country, it’s the Irish, and maybe a boisterous captivating hip hop song is just what they were missing.Â
For the many who maybe aren’t ready to go to a gig, just watch the film, you’ll get it.
Kneecap
UNSW Roundhouse
15th March 2025
Miss Kaninna
UNSW Roundhouse
15th March 2025
