THE ORGANISER OF Electric Picnic has criticised actions taken against Kneecap and The Mary Wallopers at UK festivals this summer, and said “mics won’t be switched off” at this weekend’s festival.

The BBC did not livestream Kneecap’s Glastonbury performance earlier in the summer following calls from politicians and media personalities for the group’s gig to be cancelled by the festival.

The Mary Wallopers also had their sound cut off when they displayed a Palestinian flag on stage while performing at the Victorious Festival in Portsmouth last Friday.

Speaking to media ahead of Electric Picnic, Melvin Benn, organiser of the festival said: “It was shocking what happened to The Mary Wallopers. It was absolutely shocking”.

“It definitely won’t be my policy,” he said, adding that he was “glad” other artists withdrew from the Victorious Festival over the issue.

Belfast rap trio Kneecap will be playing the main stage this Saturday, something which Benn said is “really important” due to the current global climate.

“Mics won’t be switched off, they’re great lads. They’ve got really important songs, they’re brilliant live, but they’ve also got really important messages,” Benn added.

He said the trio “didn’t do anything wrong at Glastonbury”, and it’s yet to be proved whether they’ve done anything wrong anywhere else.

UK police opened a criminal investigation into the Glastonbury performances of Irish rap group Kneecap and the British punk duo Bob Vylan after they both expressed pro-Palestine, anti-Israel sentiments on stage.

The investigation into Kneecap has since been dropped, however police are still investigation Bob Vylan, who lead the crowd in a chant calling for “death to the IDF”.

Kneecap member Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, is due in court in England 26 September,for a charge over displaying a flag of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah during a London concert last November.

Melvin Benn standing in front of the Electric Picnic main stage today.

The three-day festival held in Stradbally, Laois, will kick off this Friday 29 August and will run through to 1 September.

80,000 people are expected to attend this year’s festival, the highest number on record according to Benn. 

Benn said he is “excited” about this weekend’s music festival, highlighting the upcoming performances from Irish artists Hozier, Kneecap, Amble and Kingfisher.

The full stage time schedule for the festival was released yesterday.

Speaking on the festival’s attempt to be environmentally friendly, Benn urges campers to take their tents and reuse them.

Londis is replacing Aldi as the on-site retails for the festival this year.

Speaking about online criticism around the difference in price between the two shops, Benn said Londis will operate at their retail shop prices.

With reporting from Diarmuid Pepper.