After an incredibly long time away from shows, I’m finally heading back for a night of
Punk at the o2 Institute in Birmingham. London Punk/Grime duo Bob Vylan were
headlining with support from Hyphen and CLT DRP. For obvious reasons to anyone who
knows any of the bands on this show, I can’t really write this review without at least
mentioning the political stances of the acts performing, and I wouldn’t want to either,
as doing so would heavily subtract from the very point of these bands putting the
messages they do into the music.
CLT DRP, the Brighton based Electro-Punk 3-piece were the first band of the night.
Taking to the stage with an abrasive, aggressive wall of sound, that perfectly
encapsulates the frustrations and anger within modern life, especially for women.
Annie (vocals), Scott (guitar) and Daphne (drums) were all impossible to look away from
that’s to the energy in each moment of the performance. Mixing this with the crowd very
quickly waking up created an incredibly fun set that did exactly what an opening set
should, show a great band on top form, while waking the audience up for the rest of the
night to come.
Hyphen was the next act of the night, and god damn was it an impressive set. The Rap-
focused rock/punk set was impossible to look away from, both due to the quality of the
performance alongside the sprinkled-in humour that really made Hyphen stand out.
With a very heavy, and much needed focus on the levels of racism within the uk, poverty
and inequality, capitalism and the climate crisis, the set did get genuinely heavy at
points, especially when discussing the very real racism experienced by Frontman
Aadarsh and his family. There were also moments of respite from the very real daily
experiences though, like when he got the entire room all chanted along with the phase
“suck dick get paid”. Hyphen from start to finish held the crowd in the palm of his hand,
and was the perfect way to prepare the crowd for Bob Vylan.
https://www.instagram.com/thisishyphen
After a short intermission, Bob Vylan took to the stage to a roar of applause, before
starting their set in their typical style, with some stretched and encouragement for the
crowd to do the same. After the stretching, the set properly began with my two favourite
songs from the bands most recent album, Humble As The Sun, those being Reign and
GYAG. Reign tackling both the bands raise to fame alongside being an attack towards
the royal family, alongside GYAG which can be summed up by this one line “landlords
just raised your rent//better get yourself a gun”. It’s impossible to watch Bob Vylan, and
not appreciate both the energy of the performance, as well as the fanbase they have
cultivated, as the crowd fully absorbed themselves within each and every track
performed across the duo’s politically charged set.
It’s also impossible to talk about Bob Vylan, and not discuss their politics which build
the foundation for the bands entire catalogue, with a range of topics being discussedfrom Capitalism, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, income inequality and the way it is all
created to intentionally divide people. Their show did one thing to fight this though,
there was no division. The crowd were a collective, all sharing common interests and
values, and Bob Vylan should be proud of the community they have helped build, which
is even more noticable when you see the band live.
As someone who grew up with 80’s and 90’s punk for their entire childhood and
formative years, it makes me incredibly happy seeing Punk bands such as the three
from this show all fighting for what they believe in and continuing to spread messsages
of such importance. It makes me even happier when they sound this damn good doing
so.
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