West Belfast rap trio Kneecap return to Electric Picnic festival

Kylie Minogue, Noah Kahan and Calvin Harris are set to headline the event with fan favourites Gerry Cinnamon, RAYE, Peggy Gou, NAS, Kasabian, and Faithless.

Irish acts Kodaline, Jazzy, The Scratch, Damien Dempsey and the Wolfe Tones will also take to the stage as well as Belfast rappers Kneecap.

Just last month, the band pulled out of a Texas music and arts festival in protest against its reported connections to the American military and US arms manufacturers.

The controversial hip hop trio were due to travel to Texas for the SXSW (South By Southwest) festival but said at the time that they could not “in good conscience attend an arts festival that has ‘The U.S Army’ as a ‘Super Sponsor’”.

Electric Picnic, which has increased its capacity to 75,000 people, takes over the Stradbally estate each year.

Last year, headline acts included The Script, The Killers, Billie Eilish, Fred again and Niall Horan. Other notable acts included Gavin James, Lyra, The Saw Doctors, Nell Mescal, Cian Ducrot, and The Wolfe Tones.

Tickets for the 2024 festival were snapped up within an hour of going on sale, with some 70,000 people thought to have attended in 2023.

This year the music and arts festival will take place from Friday, August 16, to Sunday, August 18.

It normally takes place in early September but the date change was to accommodate the touring schedule of artists, according to organisers.