Kneecap and Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury 2025 sets being assessed by police

Police are assessing performances from Kneecap and Bob Vylan at Glastonbury 2025 to decide whether any offences may have been committed.

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The two artists played back-to-back sets on the West Holts stage on Saturday afternoon (June 28). Half an hour ahead of Kneecap’s set, Glastonbury announced on social media that access to the West Holts stage had been cut off, signalling an already full-capacity crowd.

Bob Vylan was up first, and the set saw frontman Bobby Vylan call for solidarity with bands that “use their platform to speak up for the Palestinian people”, namechecking Kneecap, The Murder Capital and Amyl & The Sniffers in particular.

He also said that he was aware that the performance was being streamed on the BBC and so he would not say anything “too extreme”, adding that he would “leave that to those lads”, referring to “their mates Kneecap”.

After the crowd instigated a chant of “free, free Palestine”, which they did multiple times, Bobby said, “Have you heard this one?”, before leading a chant of “death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israeli Defense Forces, which are involved in the ongoing war in Gaza.

Bobby also said: “We are not pacifist punks here over at Bob Vylan Enterprises,” referencing lyrics from their 2023 single ‘Censored (Interlude)’. “We are the violent punks, because sometimes you gotta get your message across with violence because that is the only language some people speak, unfortunately.” See a full recap here.

Afterwards, Kneecap took to the stage for a highly-anticipated set that saw them hit out at their detractors including Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Sharon Osbourne, as well as play a new track and reaffirm their solidarity with Palestine and the activist group Palestine Action. You can check out a full write-up here.

Now, Avon and Somerset Police have said they will be investigating the two performances. In a post on social media, they said: “We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon.

“Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”

We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon.

Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation. pic.twitter.com/w2RQ4LdQf3

— Avon and Somerset Police (@ASPolice) June 28, 2025

It comes after Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has ordered Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, to explain why the performance by Bob Vylan was streamed on iPlayer.

A BBC spokesperson has said that the set, which was livestreamed on iPlayer at the time, won’t be available on demand. “Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan’s set were deeply offensive,” they said, per the Independent. During this live stream on iPlayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and discriminatory language.

Responding to the two performances, a government spokesperson said: “We strongly condemn the threatening comments made by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.

“The Culture Secretary has spoken to the BBC Director General to seek an urgent explanation about what due diligence it carried out ahead of the Bob Vylan performance, and welcomes the decision not to re-broadcast it on BBC iPlayer.”

Kneecap’s set made headlines in the lead-up to the festival, after several MPs, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, called on the festival to pull the band from the line-up this weekend. Glasto co-organiser Emily Eavis responded by saying “everyone is welcome”, and her father, festival founder Michael Eavis added: “People that don’t agree with the politics of the event can go somewhere else!”

The controversy surrounding Kneecap’s set stems from their defiant pro-Palestinian remarks at Coachella in April. Since then, band member Mo Chara – real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – has been charged with a terror offence, for which he appeared in court last week.

“Glastonbury, I’m a free man,” declared Mo Chara, nodding to being given unconditional bail from his first appearance on his terror charge. Looking out at the sea of Palestinian flags being waved, he later wished the BBC editor “good luck” with editing them out of the footage.

Earlier in the day, the BBC walked back its plans to stream the rap group’s performance on iPlayer. Just hours before they took the stage, the BBC said in a statement that while the group were still welcome to perform, the set wouldn’t be streamed live and would instead be made available as an on-demand version after the set’s end.

Looking out at the sea of Palestinian flags being waved, Chara wished the BBC editor “good luck” with editing them out of the footage after it emerged that their set would not be streamed but should be uploaded to iPlayer later.

On Thursday (June 26), the band shared a video reaffirming their pro-Palestine stance, asserting that “Kneecap is not the story. Genocide in Gaza is”, something that was echoed in yesterday’s set.

After storming through fan-favourites like ‘’Get Your Brits Out’, ‘H.O.O.D.’ and new single ‘The Recap’ towards the end of the set, Móglaí Bap reiterated: “We’ve said it before, the story isn’t about us. It’s about the genocide happening in Palestine. Free, free Palestine.”

Israel has continually denied that what’s going on in Palestine is considered a genocide, and has argued that it has not partaken in any war crimes.

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