Another high-profile Kneecap concert in England is under threat with Manchester city council reportedly holding talks with the promoters over the rap trio’s appearance alongside Fontaines DC next month.
There have been calls for the Belfast group to be dropped from the line-up at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester on August 15th, which also features English Teacher.
The council has refused to be drawn on the nature of the discussions but confirmed it was speaking to “key stakeholders” about the concert.
“As with any major event being held in one of our parks, we are in regular discussions with the key stakeholders involved to ensure the event concerned can take place safely and effectively,” a representative said.
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A Fontaines DC concert in London’s Finsbury Park with Kneecap playing support went ahead without incident last weekend, however a scheduled appearance at a festival in Glasgow this week was cancelled after concerns were raised by police.
[ Kneecap owes Keir Starmer, the BBC and Helen from Wales a thank youOpens in new window ]
The trio instead played a gig at the city’s O2 Academy earlier, which sold out in less than 90 seconds.
Kneecap have found themselves in the eye of a storm in recent months with the British prime minister Keir Starmer saying it was “not appropriate” for the band to perform at last month’s Glastonbury festival after frontman, Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence and accused of displaying a flag at a gig in support of Hizbullah.
“I think we need to come down really clearly on this,” Mr Starmer told the Sun. “I won’t say too much, because there’s a court case on, but I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
The Eavis family, who run Glastonbury, stood up to the pressure and the band played before thousands of fans on the West Holts stage on the Saturday afternoon with the area closed off 45 minutes before the set began, having reached capacity.
An add promoting their Wembley Arena show in September was banned from running on the Transport for London (TfL) network this week.
“We’ve been banned from advertising on the London tube. How petty can political policing and interference get? After using the tube to advertise loads of times for gigs, records and our movie, all without issue,” Kneecap said in a post on X.
The post added: “Speak out against genocide and they’ll use every single angle they can to silence you.”
In Northern Ireland this weekend, Kneecap posters appeared on bonfires with one in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, featuring the group on a poster with the wording “Kill Your Local Kneecap”, seemingly in response to a clip that emerged from a show in 2023 which appeared to show a Kneecap member declaring: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” – Additional reporting the Guardian
