Bob Vylan are one of the most important British bands on the scene right now.
Once again, Bob Vylan are back in Manchester: they have a habit of kicking up venue sizes every time they end up in the North West and their Humble As The Sun tour is no different. This evening sees the duo gracing Manchester Academy’s main room, their biggest show in the city yet, in considerable style.
Before ‘the Fred Perry Mafia’ can commence the carnage, Manchester is treated to a pair of support slots. CLT DRP fuse hardcore, metal and electronica into an intense thirty-minute slot. They go hard today and shake the foundations of The Academy.
Hyphen, another genre-blender, this time in the mould of tonight’s headline act, follow. Hyphen is kitted out in his own merch and a pair of the shortest shorts this side of Didsbury. He puts on a belter of a support show, blasting out intensely politicised tunes with varying musical touchstones: dipping into funk and electronics. There are some more traditional punk numbers alongside, with Hyphen’s magnanimous flow providing a consistently charismatic thread throughout his set.
Fittingly, the Bob Vylan boys walk out to The Beatles’ classic, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ before launching into light stretching and guided meditation – an opening routine which has become familiar to fans – kick off the proceedings. You must be centred and limber before daring to take on the Bob Vylan pit. ‘Down’ is swiftly followed by the monolithic grime-punk of ‘Reign’ and ‘GYAG’. Anyone unfamiliar with Bob and Bobbie have just had an induction of fire: mindfulness, anti-capitalist, anti-racist rage, fiery flows, grime beats and punk guitars. There is very little else that compares.
‘Dream Big’ and ‘He’s A Man’ form a back-to-back that perfectly encapsulates the BV vibe. Encouraging positivity and health, Bob Vylan want you to be the best version of yourself… Unless you’re a racist ‘real man’ type, of course. It’s simply superb work from the pair, who deliver lyrics that are directly cutting and anarchistic, and the way that they craft pointed verse after a cultural Marxist takedown is without peer.
The duo may be the real deal with their politics, but don’t think that detracts from the musicality. Bobbie is given centre stage on the drums, as he performs a spectacular cover of ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine‘ by Netsky, giving a break from the grime-punk by weaving infectiously groovy jungle style drums into the mid-section of the show.
As the night strides forward, each tune is bigger, grimier and punkier than the last. Bob dives into the crowd time after time, who hold him high above their heads as the pit swirls beneath. It is absolutely everything you could want from a modern punk show.
There’s an excellent mashup of ‘GDP’ / ‘I Heard You Want Your Country Back’ / ‘England’s Ending’ / ‘CSGB’ all in one, which goes down an absolute treat. Soon after, BV take a request from the crowd, reassuring everyone that “we never do this”. Bob leaves the ultimate decision to drummer Bobbie, and after much conflation with the crowd we end up with ‘Bait the Bear’, from 2022’s The Price of Life LP, getting a rare live outing. “I don’t think I know all the words to this one”, Bob remarks prior to the number, before dropping a word-perfect rendition.
It’s an earth-shaking show of punk and politics: Palestinian flags are waved throughout, with BV encouraging the crowd to never be silent on the issue of genocide in the Middle East. It is so inherently punk to be political like this: Bob Vylan reject the status quo, they reject colonial and imperialist talking points, they reject notions of empire and so should you.
