Avon and Somerset Police are scrutinising footage from punk pair Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury Festival gig to determine whether any offences have occurred. The duo, composed of Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan, incited festival-goers at the West Holts Stage with a chant of “death, death to the IDF” during their set prior to Irish rap group Kneecap. But who exactly are Bob Vylan?
Emerging from Ipswich in 2017, both band members of Bob Vylan fiercely guard their real identities for privacy reasons. Blending grime, punk, and hard rock, the band has produced four albums so far: ‘Dread’ in 2019, ‘We Live Here’ in 2020, the award-winning ‘Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life’ in 2022, and their latest offering ‘Humble as the Sun’ in 2024.
They grabbed the title for best alternative music act at the Mobo Awards in 2022, and Kerrang honoured them with the best album accolade that same year for ‘Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life’.
Their collaborations include projects with Amyl And The Sniffers’ frontwoman Amy Taylor, Soft Play guitarist Laurie Vincent, and rock outfit Kid Kapichi.
A Bob Vylan performance is a high-octane combination of sampled guitar rhythms paired with live drums by Bobbie. The audience energetically moshes, always under the watchful eye of the band to promote safety.
Attacking issues like racism, homophobia, toxic masculinity, and right-wing politics through their lyrics, they startle and engage fans. Their single ‘Pretty Songs’ frequently features an introduction by Bobby, proclaiming, “violence is the only language that some people understand”.
In their heyday, Bobby was known for his brash antics, such as swinging a baseball bat towards the audience and stirring up trouble by donning the football strip of the rival team wherever they played.
At their performance at Glastonbury, Bobby made it a family affair by bringing his daughter on stage to join him in belting out Dream Bigger.
Have they caused a stir before? Certainly. Back in 2021, an incident involving Bobby at a gig made headlines in the Norwich Evening News.
Reportedly, a fan felt Bobby’s wrath when he reacted to being hit by ice while on stage in an Ipswich Town shirt, resulting in the show pausing for his outburst.
During that same performance, Bobby reportedly brandished a baseball bat, leading to coverage under the headline “the frost and the fury”.
Norwich native Sarah Corbett who was caught up in the incident spoke to the paper: “We were all having fun on the dance floor. I’d put an ice cube down my friend’s top for a laugh.”
She explained the ice-cube mishap: “Another girl then threw it at her friend, but it missed and landed at his feet.”
Describing what followed, she said: “At that point he stopped the gig and demanded to know who had thrown it.”
Taking responsibility to spare the other girl, Sarah recounted: “Seeing the girl’s face drop, I decided to take the flak and announced it was me. He started abusing me through the microphone.”
The situation escalated further according to Sarah: “As I tried to leave, one of his fans tried to grab me by the throat.”
A spokesperson for the band firmly denied any improprieties to the newspaper following the incident, asserting that they “completely refute any wrongdoing” and stating Bobby “did not want to engage”.