Kae Tempest joined Kneecap for ‘Irish Goodbye’ at their Crystal Palace Park gig – check out footage of the moment below.
Last night (June 27), the band played their biggest headline gig to date in the capital with special guests including The Mary Wallopers, Fat Dog, Biig Piig, Gurriers, and Madra Salach. The Irish hip-hop trio also surprised the 25,000-strong crowd with the addition of Tempest, who appeared on ‘Fenian‘ track ‘Irish Goodbye’.
When announcing the track back in April, the band’s Móglaí Bap – real name Naoise Ó Cairealláin – took to social media to tell fans that he’d written the lyrics following the death of his mother in 2020, in the aftermath of coming to terms with the “reality of what has happened”.
“Suicide is hard,” he’d said at the time. “When someone is sick with depression and dies by suicide, it’s hard to remember the good moments. You get caught up in the dark times.”
Another moving moment in the gig came when the band paid tribute to late music manager Trevor Dietz. An image of Dietz – who managed Fontaines D.C. – wearing a “fuck Israel” shirt was projected on stage, accompanied by an image of the Palestinian flag and text that read “Trevor forever.”
Kneecap played:
‘Éire go Deo’
‘Smugglers & Scholars’
‘Carnival’
‘Better Way to Live’
‘Sick in the Head’
‘C.E.A.R.T.A’
‘Gael Phonics’
‘Cold at the Top’
‘Irish Goodbye’ (with Kae Tempest)
‘Occupied 6’
‘An Ra’
‘Get Your Brits Out’
‘Guilty Conscience’
‘No Comment’
‘Sayonara’
‘Your Sniffer Dogs Are Shite’
‘I bhFiacha Linne’
‘Fine Art’
‘Rhino Ket’
‘I’m Flush’
‘Liars Tale’
‘FENIAN’
‘Big Bad Mo’
‘Parful’
‘H.O.O.D’
‘THE RECAP’
Rest in Power Trev pic.twitter.com/zMhRAV4zVO
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) June 27, 2026
Dietz was well known for his activism and campaigning for Palestinian human rights. Throughout last night’s set, Kneecap also told the crowd about the importance of speaking up, telling them there was “no bigger crime being committed, in our generation, than what’s happening in Palestine right now”.
Earlier this year, the High Court dismissed a terror charge against member Mo Chara (real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh), after he was charged with the offence for allegedly displaying the flag of Hezbollah – a proscribed organisation – and shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah,” during a gig at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town in November 2024.
The band continuously denied supporting either Hamas or Hezbollah, argued that the footage from the gig had been taken out of context, and described the legal action as a “carnival of distraction”.
Nodding to that controversy, Chara told the Crystal Palace crowd he’s found himself in “quite the pickle” throughout the legal battle.
“But again,” he said, “anyone who was following it knows that we beat the British government three fucking times. That being said, let’s leave it at three nil.” After drawing cheers from fans, he went on: “I think we’re happy with three nil, so if anybody has flags of prescribed organisations, give it to him.
“As Irish people, we understand, after 800 years of colonialism, we understand colonialism, displacement, we understand forced starvation of a population.
“So, it’s important to us that we take some time out of every show, regardless of where in the world we are, to show some solidarity to our Palestinian brothers and sisters. And obviously, [we] like to use this time, as well, to show some support to the Filton 24.”
Chara was referencing the group of pro-Palestine activists, who in 2024, allegedly broke into and sabotaged an Elbit Systems factory near Bristol, which produces weapons for the Israeli military, and went on to say they had been hit with “hefty fucking prison sentences.”
“We know what’s right,” he concluded. “Yes, the Israeli lobby is strong, but we’re fucking stronger. Free Palestine.”
Last week, the trio reacted to Keir Starmer’s resignation as UK Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party. The PM had pushed to have the group kicked off the Glastonbury 2025 line-up, with Kneecap hitting out at him for “arming a fucking genocide” in Gaza.
They also condemned Starmer on the ‘Fenian’ single ‘Liar’s Tale’, calling him a “scumbag” for his involvement in helping to arm Israel. During a recent interview with NME, they were asked why they thought politicians were so obsessed with artists saying things, rather than the origins of what they speak out about.
“It’s that need for sensationalism,” Móglaí Bap replied. “Keir Starmer giving an interview about us playing Glastonbury to The Sun? Why would he do that? That’s weird.
“He gets to pretend to be outraged about something that doesn’t really have an impact or any repercussions for him, but it makes him look good. We have this dysfunctional symbiotic relationship with politicians.”
When speaking to NME last year, Starmer doubled down on his stance against Kneecap, and explained why he spoke out in an attempt to have them booted from the festival line-up.
“Kneecap shouldn’t be performing at Glastonbury, and I don’t support inciting violence as free speech,” he said. “I think it’s important that we distinguish the issues we all care about and should be spoken about freely on the one hand, and then the incitement to violence on the other. They’re two different things.”
In a four-and-a-half-star review of ‘Fenian’, NME described the album as “a spraypainted brick wall of consistency, amplifying the adventure of The Prodigy and Burial, seamlessly but tastefully hopping genres while keeping the vibe up to retain Kneecap’s knack for having a good time to illuminate the hard times“.
It added: “Put all the rage-bait headlines aside and what you’re left with is a solid, progressive and fearless album from a group that could just as easily be dicking around instead of making music that matters. In that sense at least, their day has come.”
Following Saturday night’s gig will be a series of dates at various European and UK summer festivals, including Roskilde, Rock Werchter, and Boomtown. They’ll also make appearances at Reading & Leeds 2026 on the August Bank Holiday Weekend.
The post Watch Kae Tempest join Kneecap for ‘Irish Goodbye’ at Crystal Palace Park appeared first on NME.
