Climate activist Greta Thunberg was immediately recognised as she attended a charity concert featuring Kneecap and Bob Vylan last night. Ms Thunberg, 23, turned up to the Upper Falls gig at Falls Park last night sporting Kneecap's trademark tricolour balaclava and a keffiyeh. She danced and clapped along to the two pro-Palestine headliners, before she was later photographed leaving while carrying the balaclava in her hand. The groups were performing at the Féile an Phobail arts festival in west Belfast, raising money for Irish language organisations including Belfast's Glór na Móna and Londonderry's Seán Dolan's. Bob Vylan, who made headlines at Glastonbury last year after leading the crowd in a 'death, death to the IDF' chant, took to the stage directly before Kneecap. The two-man punk band avoided any similar controversies in Belfast, although frontman – real name Pascal Robinson-Foster – suffered a hairy moment when he was dropped while crowd-surfing. Last year the band were heavily criticised for the chant on the main stage of Glastonbury, with the BBC also forced to apologise after airing the events live. In July they announced plans to sue the corporation over the row after it branded their comments 'absolutely unacceptable'.

The duo said in a statement: 'We have decided to take legal action against the BBC. In the immediate aftermath of our performance at Glastonbury 2025, The BBC wasted no time in placing labels upon us that did not, do not and never will fit. 'As a corporation that receives the majority of its funding from the public, it has disappointingly continued to prove how little it represents the interests of the people and our access to unbiased news and information.

'The BBC have attempted to silence those that oppose the heinous crimes taking place in Palestine, instead labelling them as anti-semitic, editing their speeches, removing their content and even blocking the release of documentaries that challenge the desired narrative of The BBC and its top brass. 'These responses are unacceptable. So seeing the opportunity to remind them the power of the people that they are attempting to silence, we had no choice but to take on this fight. In fact, we take great pleasure in serving them that reminder in court.' They were followed on Thursday night by rap trio Kneecap, made up of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí, real names Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and J J Ó Dochartaigh. Ó hAnnaidh was previously charged under terrorism legislation after allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a gig in London – Hezbollah is a proscribed terrorist organisation under UK law. But the case against him was eventually dropped on a technicality, after a judge ruled that police and prosecutors failed to authorise the charge within six months of the alleged offence in November 2024.

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring ruled the proceedings were 'instituted unlawfully', and this was upheld by two judges at the High Court on appeal in March. Judge Goldspring had agreed with Ó hAnnaidh's lawyers that prosecutors needed to seek the Attorney General's permission to charge the rapper before informing him on May 21 that he would be charged with a terror offence. This permission was sought and given the following day, which the court heard meant the charge fell outside the six-month time frame in which criminal charges against a defendant can be brought.

Both Kneecap and Bob Vylan acts have been fierce proponents of the Palestinian cause amid backlash against Israeli actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Ms Thunberg has also become heavily involved in campaigning for Palestinians in recent months. In December she attended a Palestine Action protest and held a sign reading: 'I support Palestine Action prisoners, I oppose genocide'. She was arrested by officers from City of London Police. Around the same time, Ms Thunberg spoke out in support of several imprisoned Palestine Action activists who were on hunger strike. She described them as 'political prisoners' and joined calls for the charges against them to be dropped. She was also detained last year by Israel after warships intercepted the aid flotilla headed for Gaza she was on. Ms Thunberg's detention was the second such incident, after she was also taken by Israeli forces while onboard a separate ship headed for the Palestinian state last June. If she had hoped to fly under the radar at the Belfast concert last night, she would have been disappointed to have been quickly recognised by others in the crowd. Ms Thunberg was spotted leaving at the end of the night clutching her balaclava but with the keffiyeh still round her neck.