LIVE REVIEW: KNEECAP @ 170 RUSSEL
The anti-colonial Irish hip-hop group, Kneecap, came all the way from Belfast to absolutely smash up Melbourne’s stage at 170 Russel St.
They are loudly anti-colonial and Pro Palestine; they aren’t here to fuck around.
They create this solidarity between those who have had their culture and land stolen by under the British colonial occupation, creating an avenue for storytelling and protest, being a voice for minorities alike and to keep the “gaeilge” language alive.
The Irish language — or Gaeilge — is considered "endangered" by UNESCO, with the majority of people in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland unable to speak it due to the results of colonial war tactics.
The name of the band originates from the practice known as “kneecapping”, a form of torture and malicious wounding which involves a gunshot to the knee, often used as a tactic by paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, as a punishment for drug use and anti-social behaviour.
They certainly have done the research on the violent colonial history of Australia – consistently referring to Melbourne as “Naarm” and making the choice to open with the wickedly talented blak activist and rapper, Miss Kanina.
Miss Kanina felt so empowering to listen to as a woman, particularly her song “pinnacle bitch” - where she talks about bodily autonomy and taking control of her blackness and womanhood. She commended Kneecap for taking the time to learn about country and to take a stance against first nations prejudice.
Aboriginal, Irish and Palestinian flags were waving in the air in solidarity – I felt so riled up and ready for a politically fuelled show.
They came out, the lights basically on a black out – and it stayed like that for the rest of the show – with sporadic laser lights. It was nothing short of intense – Kneecap were screaming, I was screaming- the mosh pit was pumping- people were jumping around everywhere. It felt so good to be in a room with such unabashed-ness, I felt so unapologetic to take up space. The highlight of night of course was their end song “Hood”-people went absolutely nuts. I haven’t seen a mosh pit or an events space go that crazy before. It was so good.
I felt so politically motivated during this set. I feel like a lot of musicians who come to Australia don’t care to look into the history of this place, and rarely take a political stance on anything. Art is inherently political, whether its intentional or not, so I am so happy to see musicians being so overt about it. It makes me feel hopeful that there are people that are upset and angry at the state of the world the way I am.
We did the classic “Maggies in a box” chant, “free Palestine” chant- really fuelling my political fervour. It felt like a riot or a rally, and instead of being riled up by political speeches, I was getting riled up by the screaming of Irish native language that I didn’t even understand, but it made it just as meaningful.
I also love how Kneecap are so like overtly masculine in nature – drugs, anger, swagger, and all. But they still manage to stand their political ground - standing with Palestine, women’s rights and first nations rights. I feel like men don’t have that kind of representation in the media – alt-right, conservative figures like Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate loom over young males all over the world, and that’s the way masculinity is represented for them. Rap is an inherently male dominated genre- even the crowd for this show mostly consisted of men, but I find it commendable that the Kneecap are kind of changing the game in this way.
I really have a newfound love for the Irish, and a newfound love for Kneecap and strangely irish rap. Go listen to them right now if you haven’t already.
