Gig review: Kneecap at Leeds Irish Centre - 'Could you get a better venue for a Kneecap gig?'
“I see you’re feeling rowdy enough tonight, Leeds,” Kneecap vocalist Mo Chara cries out. “But you’re going to have to be if you want to beat last night!”
Bellows threaten to concuss the crowd members nearest to the sound booth barrier - a wave of noise hued green, white and orange that feels like it might take the roof off at any moment.
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Hide AdIt is the second sold-out night on the bounce for the West Belfast trio at this 800-capacity social venue, consisting of Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí.
It is the latest step for them on what still feels like a rapidly snowballed rise to the summit of the hip-hop tree across the sea here; for the audience lucky enough to be in attendance, this could feel comparatively intimate by next year, when their schedule sees them step out for festival headline dates and major support shows with Fontaines D.C. among others.
Here behind sophomore record Fine Art, and further diversifying their furiously sharp-tongued prose into further soundscapes, they rattle through a dozen-and-a-half songs or so with the kind of relentless energy that has helped build their name.


Early cut It’s Been Ages, with terrific flow and rapid harmonic bursts into dub-heavy whoops, effectively sets the tone from the out; flags not just in their native tricolour, but in support of Palestine too, are flown proudly throughout to frequent salutes.
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Hide AdThe trio are idiosyncratic faces on the cusp of a full commercial crossover, aided by a self-titled film that fictionalised their rise through the local scene back home and beyond.
But beneath the rat-a-tat delivery and fiery burst, their incisive wit and sonic intelligence is what truly helps them stand out; the insistent throb of Your Sniffer Dogs Are Shite lays a platform for the superb Guilty Conscience, while an impromptu snippet of the Tom Jones revival classic Sex Bomb conjures laughs throughout.
“Could you get a better venue for a Kneecap gig?” Chara asks as the fan favouriteGet Your Brits Outswings practically from the rafters.
Certainly, there won’t be many better shows that grace its doors this year too.
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