DUP call over Kneecap and Bob Vylan gig in Falls Park
A Kneecap gig taking place in front of 10,000 west Belfast fans tonight should be monitored by the authorities, the DUP says – not least as it recreates a controversial line-up from last year’s Glastonbury Festival.
In 2025, both Kneecap and the act on directly before them at the Somerset festival, punk duo Bob Vylan, were probed by the police due to their onstage comments.
Ultimately, investigations into each group were dropped.
Tonight’s show in Falls Park numbers Bob Vylan among the support acts, once again due to take the stage immediately before the rap trio.
That has a North Belfast MLA calling for performances at the show, part of the annual Feile an Phobail in the west of the city, to be checked by the authorities.
Brian Kingston also pointed positively to a cross-community event happening a few miles away at the same time, as part of the all-Ireland Fleadh.
He said the “contrast couldn’t be more stark” between Kneecap’s republican stances, and the Fleadh inviting Ulster-Scots marching bands and dancers to perform as part of a celebration of the entire island’s diverse heritage of music and culture.
Commenting on the appearances of Kneecap and Bob Vylan ahead of the concert, the DUP MLA said: “Both of these acts appear to be more interested in, and more successful in, courting controversy than in the quality of their performance.
“The concert in Falls Park must be monitored to ensure that nothing occurs which may be outside the law.”
He added: “The contrast between Falls Park and Titanic Slipway on the same evening couldn’t be more stark.”
Meanwhile the TUV took aim at the BBC for publishing an online article headlined ‘all you need to know about Kneecap’s Feile concert’ on the morning of the show.
Party leader Jim Allister argued the piece was effectively “a promotional article listing the concert line-up, transport arrangements, timings and where the proceeds will go” instead of an impartial news report.
Complaining that no space was given to critics of the band, he felt the broadcaster “produced what amounts to a glowing guide while omitting the material context necessary for readers to understand why the group is so controversial”.
During Bob Vylan’s June 2025 set at Glastonbury, the group’s singer chanted “death, death to the IDF [Israeli Defence Forces]”.
Kneecap were on next; between songs in their set, they accused the UK government of “enabling genocide” and branded Israel “war criminals”.
Although Kneecap have a reputation for being outspoken about Palestine, two years ago the trio angered some fans by breaking a boycott to play an English music festival sponsored by a company with financial ties to arms manufacturers supplying Israel.
Half of the acts booked for the Great Escape in May 2024 pulled out because of that sponsor but Kneecap performed anyway, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
The rappers said they had to play as they’re a “working band” while dismissing their critics as middle-class.
The incident happened weeks before the release of a movie about and starring the trio.