“This is a festival, not a court date,” joked Móglaí Bap halfway through Kneecap’s headlining set at Wide Awake 2025.

The crowd laughed, then roared, then moshed. Welcome to Wide Awake Festival, the south London weekender that’s less about flower crowns and more about unapologetic politics, big basslines and community in resistance.

This year, given that legal difficulties were looming over both the site of the festival and its main acts, it appeared as though the event was trying to make up for something. There were issues with permits from Lambeth Council, public criticism regarding the use of the park, and a ruling by the High Court in the lead-up to the festival. With Mo Chara also facing a new terrorism accusation, you have the kind of opening that most festivals wouldn’t dare to address.

The fact is that Wide Awake never wanted safety.

How did Wide Awake build towards Kneecap?

The day got off to a gentle start. Yuuf, tucked away at The Shacklewell Arms, welcomed the early arrivals with a soothing atmosphere and some gentle, modulated sounds. The peace did not last.

Donny Benét, looking like a disco uncle who had travelled through time, brought the first real sign of communal joy with “Mr Experience”. Warmduscher followed with their typical mutant funk madness, wild, charismatic and impossible to pin down.

At the Bad Vibes stage, Peaches turned the tent into a brightly lit pressure cooker. Her statement of solidarity with Palestine was met with enthusiastic cheers, while “Fuck the Pain Away” became radical catharsis.

English Teacher brought a subtler political tone, while Getdown Services packed out the Grove DIY stage to the point that it already felt too small for them.

What happened when Kneecap finally arrived?

And then came Kneecap.

The tension was physical, not aggressive but tightly wound. It was noticeable in the quiet moments between sets, in the surge as people moved towards the Wide Awake Stage, and in the Palestinian, Irish and anti-fascist flags being raised above the crowd.

The energy exploded immediately. There was no gradual increase, just powerful bass, a fierce beat and a crowd ready to erupt.

Where did the headline set find its sharpest edge?

“The Recap” landed like a punchline delivered with brass knuckles, while “Fenian Cunts” was shouted back at the band so fiercely that it seemed as though half the park could lift off the ground.

Jelani Blackman’s appearance for “Harrow Road” briefly changed the temperature. Its slow-burning beat halted the chaos and turned it into something smoother, confident and rooted in the local area.

More than once, Kneecap pulled away from the music to speak clearly. Yet for all the anger present, the atmosphere was never devoid of joy.

Could all that anger still feel joyful?

Mosh pits opened and chants rang out in Irish and English. People laughed, hugged, cried and jumped, sometimes all at once. When Próvaí entered the crowd during “C.E.A.R.T.A.”, it felt less like a conventional conclusion and more like an exorcism.

It was a moment when everyone became clearly aware of what was going on: messy, loud and right.