Wolfe Tones in fresh controversy as they bring pro-IRA chants to mainstream music festival Electric Picnic

During their set on Sunday they played Celtic Symphony which includes the lyrics ‘ooh ah up the ra’. Video footage has appeared online showing a large number of the crowd chanting those particular lyrics led by singer Brian Warfield.

Just last month the same controversy had happened at the West Belfast Festival, but the difference at Electric Picnic is there are multiple stages and not all of those 70,000 people in attendance over the weekend would have come to the sold-out festival see the Wolfe Tones.

DUP MLA David Brooks, the party’s spokesperson on cross-border relations, said: “It is a sad incitement on modern-day Ireland that the Wolfe Tones, and chants of ‘ooh aah up the ra’ are part of a mainstream music festival.

“These are chants that attract fines from UEFA for ‘the violation of the basic rules of decent conduct’ when a football team engages in them. Such chants are a stark reminder that for many people, a so-called ‘new Ireland’ looks a lot like celebrating the worst aspects of the old Ireland.”

He added: “Electric Picnic and all those sponsors associated with the event should consider whether they are comfortable with such sectarian chanting being central to a music festival which attracts people from all backgrounds.”

Electric Picnic were contacted by the News Letter and asked for a comment on the appropriateness of a band like the Wolfe Tones at mainstream music festival. They are yet to respond.

Previously a spokesperson for the festival had said: “The Wolfe Tones drew the biggest crowd ever in the Electric Arena, with fans enjoying the music inside and outside the tent, singing along to every song.”

After the show the Wolfe Tones tweeted: “Thank you @EPfestival for having us tonight! Thank you to the massive crowds who thronged the Electric Arena tent, we are truly humbled. Our sincerest thanks!”

When the Wolfe Tones played at the West Belfast festival in August several victims of IRA terrorism came forward asking for the festivals sponsors to considering pulling their funding.

Colin Parry, whose son Tim was 12 when he was killed by a bomb planted in a bin by the IRA outside a sports shop in Warrington, said: “You would hope to God that any right minded person living in Northern Ireland – whatever their politics – would want to stop all of this."

"For these institutions knowingly or unknowingly to fund an enterprise which would celebrate what went on, what was perpetrated, it really is beyond belief.”

To date neither Belfast City Council, the Arts Council NI or Tourism NI have announced they will stop funding the festival.

In 2024, the Wolfe Tones will return to Belfast to mark 60 years of playing and touring together with a show at the Waterfront Hall on January 2.