Decision on Kneecap gig in Belfast due ‘within 24 hours' as shows in Germany axed

Belfast Telegraph

30-04-2025

A number of scheduled performances, including three shows in Germany, have been cancelled by organisers amid calls for the band's slot at Glastonbury to be axed.
It comes as a Scotland Yard probe into footage appearing to show a member of the west Belfast group saying: 'The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP' at a show in November 2023..
Ulster Unionist Party councillor Jim Rodgers told BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show that Belfast City Council should ban the band from performing at Belfast Vital.
'Serious consideration should be given to not allow them to use Boucher Road playing field for their events in the next few weeks,' he said.
"I brought it up a few days ago, so I'm waiting on the officers' response.'
Kneecap's gig at the Eden Project in Cornwall has already been cancelled with a ticket site for gigs in Hamburg, Berlin and Cologne stating that the shows in Germany have been axed.
Police are also investigating video footage from a second concerts in November 2024 in which a member of the band appeared to shout 'Up Hamas, up Hezbollah' — groups which are banned as terrorist organisations in the UK.
On Monday, Kneecap issued an apology for any offence caused to the families of Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, both of whom were murdered while serving as MPs.
The band claimed their comments had been 'deliberately taken out of all context'.
However, Mr Rodgers said Kneecap's contrition, branded as 'crocodile tears' by the leader of the DUP, did not go far enough.
"Under no circumstances, can we in Belfast City Council permit the use of Boucher Road playing field – we have a responsibility to make sure that people abide by the law whenever they're using any of our facilities and quite clearly if we were to allow them to proceed you would open the floodgates to others doing the same thing,' the veteran UUP representative said.
"I've already spoken to some council officers and I'm hoping all the necessary steps are taken - we can't allow people to go on our land and do whatever they like and I would be disappointed if no action was taken,' Mr Rodgers said.
Kneecap is set to preform at Belfast Vital on August 29 and tickets for the concert are still available on TicketMaster.
The Belfast Telegraph has contact MCD Promotions – Belfast Vital's promoters.
The band's manager Daniel Lambert told RTÉ's Prime Time on Tuesday that "moral hysteria" had taken hold and that the band is being held to a higher standard than elected politcians as he addressed calls for acts to be cancelled.
"It's not for us to worry, it's for us to have the strength of conviction that we did the right thing."
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Mr Lambert also claimed the band has become subject to a "concerted campaign" which is "solely about de-platforming artists' after their Coachella sets.
He expressed no regret about the US performances insisting that taking part in the US festival was the right move.
"It's about telling the next young band both through the music industry and through the political class that you cannot speak about Palestine," MrLambert added.
A spokesperson for Belfast City Council previously said use of the Boucher Road venue for the scheduled Kneecap gig 'is managed via a legal agreement between the council and the promoter'.
"Events programming remains a matter for the organisers,' they added.