DEFIANT Kneecap member Mo Chara roared, “Glastonbury, I’m a free man!” as the Irish rap trio took to the West Holts Stage at the festival.
The Gaelgoir group, who hail from Belfast, have been in the headlines after member Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence.
News broadcasts criticising the hip hop trio played from the sound system before they walked onto the stage were booed by the Glastonbury Festival audience.
Access to the area around the West Holts Stage was closed around 45 minutes before their performance after groups of fans arrived to form a sea of Irish and Palestinian flags.
Member Naoise O Caireallain, who performs under the name Moglai Bap, said: “The Prime Minister of your country, not mine, said he didn’t want us to play, so f*** Keir Starmer.”
O hAnnaidh, 27, wore a keffiyeh during the set, while member JJ O Dochartaigh, who performs under the name DJ Provai, wore his signature tri-coloured balaclava as well as a T-shirt that said: “We are all Palestine Action” in reference to the soon-to-be banned campaign group.
Rap punk duo Bob Vylan performed on the stage before Kneecap and led the crowd in chants of “Free, free Palestine” and “Death, death to the IDF”.
In the run up to the festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, several British politicians called for the group to be removed from the line-up and UK prime minister Keir Starmer said their performance would not be “appropriate”.
Earlier today, the BBC confirmed they would not be live-streaming the set but said the performance is likely to be made available on-demand later.
A BBC spokesperson said: “As the broadcast partner, the BBC is bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers.
“While the BBC doesn’t ban artists, our plans ensure that our programming meets our editorial guidelines.
“We don’t always live-stream every act from the main stages and look to make an on-demand version of Kneecap’s performance available on our digital platforms, alongside more than 90 other sets.”
Earlier the band said on Instagram: “The propaganda wing of the regime has just contacted us….
“They WILL put our set from Glastonbury today on the iPlayer later this evening for your viewing pleasure.”
During their set at Glastonbury today, Mo Chara said: “The BBC editor is going to have some job.”
MORE PERFORMANCES
O hAnnaidh, 27, was charged with allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah, while saying “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” at a gig in November last year.
On June 18th, the rapper was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in Free Mo Chara T-shirts.
Also playing on Saturday afternoon were Leeds rock band Kaiser Chiefs and US star Brandi Carlile, who released an album with Elton John earlier in the year.
Irish singer CMAT, who played the Pyramid Stage on Friday, performed a secret set at the BBC Introducing stage on Saturday.
Neil Young, best known for songs such as Rockin’ In The Free World, Like A Hurricane and Cinnamon Girl, headlined the Pyramid Stage on Saturday night with his band the Chrome Hearts.
The BBC broadcast Young’s set after previously saying it would not be shown “at the artist’s request”.
