The Mary Wallopers were just a couple of songs into their show at the Portsmouth festival last Friday (August 22) when they had their sound cut off. 

The band then took to their Instagram to confirm the reason that they were removed from stage, saying: “Just got cut off at Victorious Festival for having a Palestinian flag on the stage. We’ve been doing this for 6 years now and its never happened before. Free Palestine all day every day.”

Victorious Festival has just cut off The Mary Wallopers for showing support to Palestine. So grim. pic.twitter.com/nV2010AcUY

— Leigh Kimmins McManus (@LeighMcManus1) August 22, 2025

Victorious is one of many festivals which is operated by Superstruct Entertainment – a company owned by the controversial global investment firm KKR, which has been criticised for its alleged stakes in weapons manufacturing companies and Israel cooperations operating in the occupied Palestine territories.

A spokesperson for the festival spoke to NME, confirming their reasonings behind cutting the sound of The Mary Wallopers, saying: “We spoke to the artist before the performance regarding the festival’s long-standing policy of not allowing flags of any kind at the event, but that we respect their right to express their views during the show.

“The decision by the event management to cut the sound and end the performance was only taken after the band used a chant which is wildly understood to have a discriminatory context.”

Footage from the performance, as seen below, shows that the only chants heard were “free, free Palestine” followed by shouts of “Let them play” once the sound was cut off.

 

 

 

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A post shared by The Mary Wallopers (@marywallopers)

Since the set, many artists and bands have come out in support for the Irish band. Kneecap were the first to make a statement, saying: “Speak up against genocide in England and you’re treated like a criminal. Up The Mary Wallopers. Free Palestine! Free the 6 counties!”

The controversy then led to a boycott of the festival by multiple bands who were scheduled to perform during the weekend, including The Last Dinner Party.

The Brit Award winners took to Instagram to announce their decision to drop out of the festival at short notice: “We are outraged by the decision to silence The Mary Wallopers yesterday at Victorious. As a band we cannot cosign political censorship and will therefore be boycotting the festival today.

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A post shared by THE LAST DINNER PARTY (@thelastdinnerparty)

“As Gazans are deliberately plunged into catastrophic famine after two years of escalating violence, it is urgent and obvious that artists use their platform to draw attention to the cause. To see an attempt to direct attention away from the genocide in order to maintain an apolitical image is immensely disappointing.”

Fellow Irish bands The Academic and Cliffords then followed The Last Dinner Party’s decision to boycott the festival.

Vampire Weekend then headlined the festival on Saturday (August 23) night and took the chance to address the controversy, with frontman Ezra Koenig saying: “If someone was punished for flying a flag, that is wrong and they deserve an apology. The terrible suffering of the Palestinian people deserves all of our sympathy.”

The Mary Wallopers are yet to receive an apology from Victorious Festival at the time of writing. Keep up to date with this ongoing issue here at mxdwn.co.uk.

Victorious Festival 2024 will run from August 23-25 with Fatboy Slim and Snow Patrol co-headlining the event’s opening night. Jamie T and Biffy Clyro will then take the headlining spot for Saturday and Sunday night respectively. The 2023 instalment of Victorious Festival featured another star-studded line up as the likes of Mumford and Sons, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, Jamiroquai and Ellie Goulding were amongst the big names of performers.

The festival also houses a comedy stage, and at next year’s event, leaders of the industry Russell Howard and Frankie Boyle will be headlining on Friday and Saturday night at Southsea seafront.

One of the most successful dance artists of all time, the Grammy and Brit award-winning DJ and producer Fatboy Slim will bring a memorable Friday night opening party packed full of hits. His attendance of the festival had previously been teased as a sign saying “Praise You”, in reference to his hit song of the same name, appeared at the event’s location.

Victorious Festival hints at 2024 headliner: https://t.co/85AAcyqY7K #FatboySlim #VictoriousFestival

— Neil Durham (@NeilDurham) November 27, 2023

In addition to these huge headliners, many other world class acts will be making their way down to Portsmouth for Victorious Festival. Other artists on the bill include Wet Leg, Becky Hill, Pixies, Courteeners, IDLES, Jess Glynne, Arlo Parks, Louis Tomlinson and Natasha Bedingfield. You can find the full line up below.

Big News!

We’re SO excited to announce @FatboySlim@snowpatrol , @jamietmusic , and @BiffyClyro are headlining VF24! Plus the incredible @wetlegband@BeckyHill@PIXIES@Louis_Tomlinson@jessglynne@arloparks@thecourteeners@idlesband & loads more!… pic.twitter.com/O6GEwuXxBP — Victorious Festival (@VictoriousFest) December 5, 2023

Victorious’ lead booker Andy Marsh said in a press release: ‘‘This is the first year we’ve released all our headliners at once and we’re thrilled to be able to announce the acts after months of planning. Victorious 2024 is going to be bigger than ever and it’s not just the headliners people need to look out for, we have booked hundreds of acts across the weekend spanning multiple genres. We can’t wait for August, it really will be a year to remember!” Early bird weekend camping tickets are now on sale from £180, while day tickets are priced at £65 each. For tickets and more information, you can visit the official website for Victorious Festival here.

UK! We’re adding a bunch of new dates later this year to our All The Hits! Tour. Let’s keep this party going

For access to the pre-sale at 9am on Weds 23rd, sign up here before 4pm on Tues here. https://t.co/3bgyulPjj2

General sale opens 9am this Friday 25th of Feb x pic.twitter.com/EK2LCLk877

— The WOMBATS (@thewombats) February 21, 2022

The tour is in support of their latest album, Fix Yourself, Not The World. Described by mxdwn as “colourfully catchy, upbeat and classy“, the LP became the group’s first-ever number one charting album in the UK just last month. Speaking on the exciting news, the band said that “It’s been an amazing journey since we started back in 2003 and this is such a career milestone for us. Thanks to everyone who helped us make this album … it really does take a lot of wonderful hard working people to make and put an album out.”

Created as lockdown forced people inside their homes, the band had to play the material in different countries, recording the LP remotely. Wombat drummer Dan Haggis spoke about this process, saying that “The album wouldn’t have sounded exactly the same if we’d just all been in the same room. You can’t help but be influenced by where you are, who you were, what the room sounds like …. I think the fact that Murph was doing guitars and vocals in a room altogether in a different country, everything was slightly different than it would have sounded. And I think that made the album richer, sonically.”

Aside from the new dates, the band are also set for some UK festivals on the side, appearing in the likes of Victorious Festival, Boardmasters and Community Festival (the last of which will also feature artists such as Pale Waves and Two Door Cinema Club). If you’re interested in seeing The Wombats live, the presale for tickets begins tomorrow, and following this link is the best way to start about that. Otherwise, the general sale on Friday begins at 9 am, so best rise early if you want what’s left, and for that, you can look here. And as for the new tour dates, they can be seen below.

The Wombats UK Tour Dates

12/08/2022 – O2 Academy – Edinburgh
21/08 – The Telegraph Building – Belfast
22/08 – Olympia Theatre – Dublin
21/10 – O2 Academy – Sheffield
22/10 – Rock City – Nottingham
23/10 – O2 Academy – Birmingham
25/10 – UEA (University of East Anglia) – Norwich
28/10 – O2 Victoria Warehouse – Manchester