{"id":24975,"date":"2025-08-26T19:43:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/24975\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T19:43:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:43:14","slug":"adding-kneecap-to-electric-picnic-line-up-an-important-statement-says-festival-director-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/24975\/","title":{"rendered":"Adding Kneecap to Electric Picnic line-up an \u2018important statement\u2019, says festival director \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The addition of rap group Kneecap to this year\u2019s Electric Picnic line-up is an important statement given \u201cwhat\u2019s going on in the world\u201d, the director of the music and arts festival has said. <\/p>\n

The Belfast rap trio, known for their support of the Palestinian cause, will be among the scores of acts performing at the festival in Stradbally, Co Laois, this weekend.<\/p>\n

A record crowd of 80,000 is expected to attend the festival, which is being headlined by Wicklow singer Hozier, Chappell Roan, Sam Fender, Fatboy Slim, Becky Hill and Kings of Leon.<\/p>\n

\"ConstructionConstruction work on the Electric Picnic main stage. Photograph: Dan Dennison <\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters in Stradbally on Tuesday, festival director Melvin Benn said Kneecap\u2019s microphones \u201cwon\u2019t be switched off\u201d this weekend.<\/p>\n

He was responding to questions about previous controversies surrounding the group\u2019s live performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think adding Kneecap [to the line-up] was really, really important for us; it was a really important statement. Musically, fantastic, but in terms of what\u2019s going on in the world it\u2019s really important that they\u2019re here, adding their voice,\u201d Mr Benn said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re great kids, they\u2019re great lads, they\u2019ve got really important songs, they\u2019re brilliant live, but they\u2019ve also got a really important message.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThey didn\u2019t do anything wrong at Glastonbury, its yet to be proved whether they\u2019ve done anything wrong anywhere else, anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0A week with Kneecap: \u2018Liam \u00d3g doesn\u2019t like much attention. This is quite a lot of heat for him\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Kneecap member Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, is before the British courts charged with displaying the flag of Lebanese political and militant group Hizbullah, a proscribed organisation in the UK, at a performance in London in November 2024. Mr \u00d3 hAnnaidh is contesting the charge.<\/p>\n

\"SomeSome of the bookable, pre-erected tents on the festival site. Photograph: Dan Dennison \"AiméeAim\u00e9e Trayer from the festival’s prop and decorating team at work on the Cro\u00ed stage. Photograph: Dan Dennison <\/p>\n

Separately, Mr Benn described as \u201cshocking\u201d an incident at a festival in Portsmouth, England, last week, where Dundalk-based band The Mary Wallopers said they were \u201ccut off\u201d during their set for displaying a Palestinian flag. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Electric Picnic 2025: Line-up, main stage times, site access, ticket information and moreOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Other bands, including The Last Dinner Party, Cliffords and The Academic, pulled out of the Victorious festival in response. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was shocking what happened to The Mary Wallopers … I\u2019m glad a number of artists then ended up withdrawing as a result of it. It definitely won\u2019t be my policy,\u201d Mr Benn said. <\/p>\n

Mr Benn said he hopes to have 80,000 people attend Electric Picnic again next year. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to stay the same again for next year and assess it for the future thereafter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As well as various musical arts, Electric Picnic will host comedy sets, live podcasts, theatre, food events and more across the weekend. The festival is sold out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The addition of rap group Kneecap to this year\u2019s Electric Picnic line-up is an important statement given \u201cwhat\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,11985,117,19,17,4066,10303],"class_list":{"0":"post-24975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-electric-picnic","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-kneecap","14":"tag-mo-chara"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}