Radar Festival in Manchester has revealed that it considered booking Kneecap as a “secret set” after they were pressured to take Bob Vylan off the line-up.

The decision to drop Bob Vylan from the 2025 bill was shared this week, following a controversial slot at Glastonbury over the weekend, which saw them voice their support for Palestine, as well as call out the BBC, Israel, the US and UK governments.

They projected a message reading “Free Palestine – United Nations have called it a genocide – the BBC calls it a ‘conflict’” onto the screen behind them, and also led chants of both “free, free Palestine” and “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]”.

It was then confirmed that amid the backlash to the appearance at Worthy Farm, they had been removed as Saturday’s (July 5) headliners at Radar Festival in Manchester.

During an interview on the Two Promoters One Pod podcast, Radar organiser Catherine Jackson-Smith revealed that the festival did not want to cancel Bob Vylan’s headline set, but felt forced to if they were to keep the festival running this year.

“There was not an option for Bob Vylan to step on stage on Saturday; that became apparent at the beginning of the week,” she said, adding that she had to speak to Bob Vylan about removing them from the line-up, despite it not being her decision.

“[It was] categorically, one of the most horrendous professional discussions I have ever had,” Jackson-Smith continued. “I cannot express clearly enough that I wanted Bob Vylan to perform at our festival.”

Now, she has also revealed that the organisers were considering booking Kneecap, who have also courted controversy over their support for Palestine, as a secret set, replacing Bob Vylan.

She said that the organisers tried to choose a headliner who could “say what we want to say” politically, and made a list of the artists who openly disagreed with the censorship put on Kneecap, considering them as a replacement headliner.

She also added that her colleague, Joe, suggested: “What if we did Kneecap as a secret set? Because that makes a statement without having to make a statement, and that is what we wanted to do.” The surprise set from Kneecap will not be feasible as the Irish hip-hop trio will be performing alongside Amyl & The Sniffers, Blondshell, Cardinals and Been Stellar at Fontaines D.C.’s huge Finsbury Park show tomorrow.

The group recently faced countless calls to be dropped from festival line-ups this summer due to their support of Palestine, and member Mo Chara recently appeared in court over an alleged terror offence relating to comments he made on stage.

At time of writing, it is not yet clear who will be replacing Bob Vylan at Radar.

After their Glastonbury set, Emily Eavis issued a statement, saying the festival was “appalled” by their “death to the IDF” chants, and further backlash came from Cabinet minister Wes Streeting, and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy – who said that the BBC’s decision to broadcast the performance shows “a problem of leadership”. On top of that, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau described the actions as a “hateful tirade” and confirmed that the band have had their US visas revoked as a result.

Bob Vylan have reportedly been dropped by their agent United Talent Agency (UTA), Somerset police have launched “a criminal investigation” into the set, and they have been removed from shows in Cologne (Germany) and Gisors (France). 

The members have spoken out to defend their Worthy Farm multiple now; both saying it is vital to “teach our children to speak up for the change they want”, and reiterating that they are wanting the “dismantling of a violent military machine”, not calling for “the death of Jews or Arabs or any other race or group”.

Massive Attack have shown their support for Bob Vylan amid the furore, and urged the media to centre their attention towards “what is happening daily to the people of Gaza”, rather than focusing on the artists speaking out.

Lambrini Girls, Amyl And The Sniffers and Soft Play have also shared their backing, with the latter sharing a statement that read: “Again, the media is trying to distract you from the real story. The outrage sparked […] is merely a smoke screen for the lack of reporting on the destruction of the Palestinian people. They are starving children, where is the media’s outrage at Israel’s continued obliteration of a whole nation?”