Kneecap to headline Wide Awake festival 2025, with English Teacher, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Sprints, CMAT among first wave of bands confirmed

(Image credit: Mike Lewis Photography/Redferns)

West Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap will headline next year's Wide Awake festival.

The Irish language-speaking rap group's bill-topping turn at the South London-based independent music festival will be their largest UK headline show to date. Next year's event will be held at Brockwell Park on May 23.

Artists on the supporting cast include Mercury Prize winners English Teacher, Dublin garage-punks Sprints, Australian sonic adventurers Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Irish singer-songwriter CMAT, Philadelphia punks Mannequin Pussy, former Suicide man Martin Rev, indie rock trio Hello Mary and more.

Tickets for the single-day event are on-sale now.

Kneecap are enjoying a hugely successful 2024. Having just played five sold-out shows at Dublin's 1,050-capacity Vicar Street venue, the trio from the North of Ireland will kick off their sell-out UK headline tour at the Kentish Town Forum on November 8. The tour will wrap on December 21, with the trio returning to Belfast to headline the 11,000 capacity SSE Arena.

The group have received endorsements from celebrity fans Elton John and Noel Gallagher, narrowly missed out on scoring Ireland's first ever chart-topping Irish-language album with their debut Fine Art, and have seen their 'heightened reality' biopic Kneecap shortlisted for an Oscars nomination, representing Ireland in the International Feature Film category at the upcoming 97th annual Academy Awards. By the end of September, the film had taken over £2 million at the box office in the UK and Ireland.

Kneecap will be available to stream on Prime Video in the UK and Ireland from November 15.

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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.