Watch “50,000 Fenians” sing back to Kneecap in Irish at Electric Picnic

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Watch “50,000 Fenians” sing back to Kneecap in Irish at Electric Picnic

Kneecap have shared footage from their huge show at Electric Picnic, which sees “50,000 Fenians” singing back to them. Check it out below.

It comes as the Irish hip-hop trio played the main stage of the Co Laois festival on Saturday (August 30). Their set was held just days after festival boss Melvin Benn confirmed there would be no censorship of their performance amid the intense scrutiny they’ve faced over their critique of Israel and vocal support of Palestine.

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At the show, the band used their set to accuse the Irish government of being “complicit in genocide” over Israeli war bonds, and projected the message “They [Israel] are now starving the people of Gaza to death.”

Multiple UN human-rights experts and UN bodies have stated that Israel’s military actions in Gaza may amount to genocide, and the International Court of Justice has found claims of genocide plausible. Israel has rejected the genocide accusations and denies committing any war crimes, maintaining that its operations are lawful acts of self-defence.

The trio have now shared footage from the slot at the festival, including a clip which sees roughly 50,000 fans chanting with them. The moment was during their rendition of the 2018 song ‘C.E.A.R.T.A’ – which translates to “rights” – and sees the fans chant out the letters.

Kneecap also shared two more updates from the show. One which read: “Thank you EP. Tiocfaidh ár lá. Free Palestine” – with “Tiocfaidh ár lá” translating to “our day will come”.

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The other update shared an overhead image of the crowd gathered at Electric Picnic for their set, and came with the caption: “Our crowd of Fenians for EP today”. “Fenian” is the term used for a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which was a 19th-century revolutionary nationalist organisation among the Irish in the US and Ireland.

The Oxford English Dictionary outlines that the organisation was “responsible for isolated revolutionary acts against the British until the early 20th century, when they were gradually eclipsed by the IRA”.

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Just before Kneecap took to the stage for Electric Picnic, the group were forced to cancel their sold-out 2025 US headline tour. That update came shortly after Mo Chara’s terrorism case was adjourned until next month at his second court hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London last Wednesday (August 20).

The terrorism charges were levelled against him in May for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag on stage at a London show last November. The rapper is yet to enter a plea, but has denied any wrongdoing. Chara (real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) first appeared in court in June, when he was released on unconditional bail.

Chara’s lawyers are seeking to throw out the case, arguing that the terror charge against him was brought outside the time limit. They claim that it was brought a day after the six-month limit for such charges. Prosecutors, however, say the charge was brought exactly within the required time limit.

Last year, Kneecap spoke to NME for their time on The Cover and shed light on the decision to rap in their native tongue. “There’s still a post-colonial hangover of colonisers telling us that our language is useless and that we’re not progressive,” Móglaí Bap said, while DJ Provaí added: “People have been told that for the last 100 years.”

They also discussed their “Brits Out” chant from their 2019 gig at Belfast’s Empire – the day after the Prince and Princess of Wales had stood on the very same stage. “If you’re from Ireland, you understand that it means nothing to do with citizens or people who identify as British,” Mo Chara said. “It’s a term used during The Troubles about getting the British government and British soldiers out of Ireland. That was it; it was a political thing.”

Check out the full Cover story with Kneecap here.

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