Belfast rap trio Kneecap announce first Australian tour

One of the most exciting groups to come out of Ireland, Kneecap will be kicking off their debut Australian tour at The Brightside, Brisbane on Wednesday 12 March. The trio will then head down the east coast for shows at 170 Russell, Melbourne on Friday 14 March, Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Saturday 15 March before a final stop over in the west at Freo Social on Monday 17 March.

“Well here we come all the way to Australia – f**k me we’ll be tunnelling for weeks. Following in the footsteps of the Fenians sent here by the Brits. This will be the furthest we’ve ever been from Belfast so we’re buzzing for it to bring the Kneecap energy to the bottom of the world!” - Kneecap

Frontier Member presale kicks off from 10am local time on Wednesday 31 July before tickets go on sale Friday 2 August from 10am local time. Tickets and tour information via frontiertouring.com/kneecap.

Kneecap - Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí - blend their satirical yet socially conscious Irish and English lyrics with reality and absurdity. Their latest studio album, Fine Art, threw away the traditional process of music creation that the group had previously followed.

Instead, scrapping all work they had prepared for the album and building The Rutz, an imaginative blur of the highs and lows found in the traditional Irish pub. Although a figment of the band’s imagination, the genre shifting project is certainly real in its rawness and demand to provoke emotion.

Shifting musical styles throughout the album like a boozy night out, Kneecap interpolate ethereal Irish folk songs to bass-heavy bouncing dubstep. Delivering a fiercely intelligent, consistently hilarious and thought inducing album all at once.

Their balance between anti-establishment lyrics, explosive delivery, graphic humour and unrelenting charm is reminiscent of early Eminem” – LA Times

“Their riotous music is uniting young people in Northern Ireland and reviving the Irish language” – The Guardian

Forming in 2017, Kneecap put their debut project C.E.A.R.T.A out to the world with no expectations. An album that wasn’t afraid to address the harsh realities of life in West Belfast, Kneecap burst onto the rap scene with shock factor, hailed for their satirical take on life for the youth in their home country. Passionate in keeping the Irish language alive, the trio became unlikely figureheads of a civil rights movement to save their mother tongue, gaining them much notoriety across the UK and Ireland.

Their unconventional founding story won them the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Festival following the creation of KNEECAP - a semi-fictionalised film on how the trio came to be. Starring Academy Award Nominee, Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby and the rap group playing themselves in their acting debut, the film premiered at the festival in Utah and marked the first time an Irish-language film had screened at Sundance and to win an award at the festival.

Touring across the UK and Ireland since their inception, the band are known for their outlandish onstage presence, something which fans and critics consistently commend them for. Performing festival sets at this year’s Glastonbury, Mad Cool, Rock Werchter and Bergenfest and due to embark on their Fine Art headline England and Scotland tour in October, it seems as though the world is finally waking up to the message Kneecap encapsulates.