Kneecap: Eden Project concert cancelled amid police investigation
A planned performance at the Eden Project for Belfast trio Kneecap has been cancelled amid a police investigation into previous footage of the group shouting “kill your local MP” at a concert in 2023.
A spokesperson for Eden Sessions, which organised the event this summer, did not clarify the reason for the trio’s sudden departure from the lineup. “Eden Sessions Limited announced today that the Kneecap show at Eden Project scheduled for July 4, 2025, has been cancelled,” they confirmed.
The statement added: “Ticket purchasers will be contacted directly and will be fully refunded. The refund process will commence from Wednesday, April 30 2025. Refunds will be processed against the original payment cards used. Purchasers should allow six working days for funds to be received into their accounts.”
Following the cancellation of their Eden Projects show, Kneecap have now added a new concert for July 4th at local venue Plymouth Pavilions. They also wrote on X: “Our show at Eden Sessions is cancelled. Ticket purchasers will be contacted directly and will be fully refunded.”
This development comes amid significant backlash following Kneecap’s previous Coachella set, which saw them displaying anti-Israel projections during their set. The band is also currently being investigated by counter-terrorism police in the UK after two clips surfaced, one showing the group shouting, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
The investigation initially began last week when a separate video surfaced from their performance in November 2024 at the O2 Kentish Town in London, with member Mo Chara shouting, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
As awareness surrounding the videos and investigation grew, a handful of political figures, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, condemned the comments, accusing them of being insensitive in light of the murders of Conservative MP David Amess and Labour MP Jo Cox.
The band then released a statement apologising to the politicians’ families, saying that they “reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual” and that the footage has been “deliberately taken out of all context” to be “exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.”
They also reiterated their support for Palestine, adding, “This distortion is not only absurd – it is a transparent effort to derail the real conversation. All two million Palestinian people in Gaza are currently being starved to death by Israel. At least 20,000 children in Gaza have been killed.”
Kneecap said their message is one of “love, inclusion, and hope”, insisting they are the target of a “smear campaign” which they called “an avalanche of outrage and condemnation by the political classes of Britain.” The trio concluded: “The real crimes are not in our performances; the real crimes are the silence and complicity of those in power. Shame on them.”
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