BOB VYLAN + KID BOOKIE + PANIC SHACK – CHALK, BRIGHTON 24.11.23
Bob Vylan were back in Brighton on Friday playing a sold out Chalk as part of their ‘Viva La Vylan’ European and UK tour. The London two-piece Bob Vylan are vocalist (Bobby) and drummer (Bobbie). One is the spokesperson; the other provides the rhythm. Their DIY sound combines grime and rap with punk rock.
Before they took the stage, the kit of the support bands were cleared, leaving it empty except for a drumkit, the piece of kit for the backing track and a microphone stand. The lights were dimmed 5 minutes before Bob Vylan were due on stage. There was just red lighting on stage and moody electronic music playing. About 10 minutes later, an MC announced to a huge cheer, “What’s going on? Bob Vylan is going on.”
The duo came on stage, with singer Bobby saying, “We’ll start as we always start with some stretching and meditation. See you on the other side.” The drummer Bobbie and a backing track played as the singer warmed up. Given the lively energetic performance to follow, this was a practical approach. The set proper started with ‘I Heard You Want Your Country Back’. During this opening song, the singer was off the stage crowd surfing. This set the tone for the rest of their set.
The vocalist was good at engaging with the crowd when he was on stage too. There was relevant banter, not mundane chat. After ‘CSGB’, which he sang while holding a cricket bat, he took a quick poll of the crowd’s opinions. After silence on agreeing with current policing, and a loud response to disagreeing, he quipped “You’re not just saying that to please us, are you?”. The next song was ‘Pulled Pork’ about policing methods.
Between songs there were passionate speeches about the police, politics and the current middle eastern conflict. Bob Vylan weren’t about cheap slogans or oversimplified party politics. Their views were eloquently put and reasoned, not the predictable “F*ck the Tories” chant from many bands. For example, the Labour Party’s leadership were called out for sacking ministers who voted for a ceasefire.
After ‘Pulled Pork’, they said “We’ll slow things down now, with a song from our album ‘Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life’”. From behind the drum kit Bobbie added, “our top 20 album … our award-winning album”. ‘He Sold Guns’ may have been a slower tempo, but still had the band’s passion and a social message.
They explained how ‘We Live Here’ was written during Covid, when they couldn’t play live and were essentially jobless. They added how it felt so good to be playing with people singing their lyrics. Now an award-winning band with a top 20 album, they thanked the crowd for their support.
Next, they said they’d be playing their new song, and asked the men to stand back and give the women and non-binary people in the crowd space at the front. As that new song was ‘He’s A Man’, it was good timing. They added a competition, saying if anyone could crowd surf over the barrier, pass security and reach the stack mid stage, they’d win some merch. Several achieved it, but the first and winner was Esme.
The next was another new song, before which the singer asked the crowd to part. This wasn’t a forced start to a mosh pit, but to let a special guest vocalist through. The song was ‘Dream Big’, which on the recording features Bobby’s daughter, nieces and nephews. The singer’s daughter got a great reception, and seem to love singing on the Chalk stage.
The band played an unreleased song, ‘Hunger Games’. They explained that the filming at the show could feature in the video or possible forthcoming documentary. I understand that live footage helps in music videos and on social media. However, unlike the other photographers, those shooting on the stage and standing on the barrier were intrusive and blocked the audience’s view throughout the show. Back to the music. After that new song, the singer said “That new album is going to be f*cking good”. From that track and the crowd’s reaction, many would have agreed, and will look forward to the release of the album ‘Humble As The Sun’ in April 2024.
Introduced as “the prettiest song we’ve written”, the track ‘Pretty Songs’ featured an acoustic guitar on the backing track, which was a real contrast to the rest of their set. Bob Vylan closed a great performance with ‘Wicked & Bad’. The singer then reiterated they were known variously as “The most important band in the world”, “Metallica Killers” (after their sets at Download), and “The Fred Perry Mafia” (from their sporting outfits from the iconic brand) and “Bob F*cking Vylan”. With that mafia reference, the band left the stage to the main theme song from ‘The Godfather’ film, ‘Speak Softly, Love’.
Bobby Vylan achieved that mix of perfectly marrying quality, engaging live music with getting over social comments and reasoned political messages. After the show, there was a real buzz in the audience, as they had just witnessed a very special performance by Bob Vylan at Chalk.
Bob Vylan:
Bobby Vylan – singer
Bobbie Vylan – drums
Bob Vylan setlist:
‘Guided Meditation And Light Stretching’
‘I Heard You Want Your Country Back’
‘Take That’
‘Northern Line’
‘CSGB’
‘Pulled Pork’
‘He Sold Guns’
‘We Live Here’
‘He’s A Man’
‘Dream Big’
‘Bait The Bear’
‘The Delicate Nature’
‘GDP’
‘Hunger Games’
‘Pretty Songs’
‘Wicked & Bad’
Opening for Bob Vylan on the Brighton date of the tour was Cardiff band Panic Shack. Friends Romi, Sarah, Emily and Meg formed the band in 2018 as a reaction to the male dominated music industry and its ‘members-only club’ mentality. Panic Shack combine witty lyrics around commonplace events, with great DIY hooks and tunes.
After their brilliant performance earlier this year at The Prince Albert (Review HERE), many people had arrived early at Chalk to catch Panic Shack.
With an early start at 6:45pm, vocalist Sarah announced “Brighton are you ready? Let’s have some fun.” Something they fully delivered once again. They opened with a new cheeky unreleased song, ‘Tit School’. A school, as the lyrics say, which doesn’t give straight A’s but Double D’s. Sarah told me at the merch stall later, this tour was the first time they’d played this song live.
Changing the subject matter, their next song was introduced as “about sandwiches”. ‘Meal Deal’ was a witty take on being skint and what to choose for lunch. The following song ‘ParTy SD’ was a relatively slower song about being hungover.
There was an interesting different style on ‘I Don’t Really Like It’. It started simply with Emily’s bass line, with Sarah delivering spoken lyrics. The others joined in singing in a round, as the song built in pace and volume. The harmonised vocals worked very well on this song. Emily’s bass lines along with Nick’s drumming were the foundations of Panic Shack’s sound and started many of their songs. The guitar hooks from Meg and Romi made their tunes instantly catchy.
The tempo went up a few gears for the next song, ‘Jiu Jits You’. During this energetic number, Sarah sang while acting out martial arts moves, and the song ended with all four running on the spot while playing.
Panic Shack closed with two fast songs from their EP ‘Baby Shack’, Like much of the band’s material, these are about annoying everyday goings-on, which are a big deal at the time. ‘The Ick’ is about a new date’s annoying habits. While ‘Who’s Got My Lighter?’ is about losing your lighter and wanting to fight somebody to get it back. Sarah added more anger into the words of those closing songs. After a great set, Panic Shack left the stage to the sound of The B52’s ‘Love Shack’.
There were high expectations of Panic Shack after their Brighton headline show earlier in the year. They more than met them. The band appeared not to take themselves too seriously, which added to their sense of fun and a thoroughly entertaining performance. Their unapologetic, brash live show went down very well with those who got to Chalk early for Panic Shack’s set.
Panic Shack:
Sarah Harvey – lead vocals
Meg Fretwell – guitar and backing vocals
Romi Lawrence – guitar and backing vocals
Emily Smith – bass
Nick – drums
Panic Shack setlist:
‘Tit School’
‘Meal Deal’
‘ParTy SD’
‘I Don’t Really Like It’
‘Jiu Jits You’
‘Jelly Baby’
‘Baby’
‘Do Something’
‘The Ick’
‘Who’s Got My Lighter?’
The middle act on the bill was Kid Bookie (real name Tyronne Buddy-Lee Ike Hill) a rapper from South East London. He was joined on stage by a full band comprising of a drummer, bassist and two guitarists. The rapper description only tells part of Kid Bookie’s sound. While vocally it was often a rap delivery, musically it was more heavy metal.
Kid Bookie started his set by shouting “1, 2, 3. f*ck it all”, which was to be a common call throughout his set. He kicked off with his latest single ‘AI (Save Yourself)’, which had more of a soft rock sound. He later asked if there were any Slipknot fans in, before playing ‘Stuck In My Ways’, his collaboration with Slipknot’s Corey Taylor. The Slipknot influence was clear on this track. Breaking his own usual no-cover-songs rule, Kid Brookie played Radiohead’s ‘Creep’. This was the mellowest song of the set by some margin.
Throughout the set there were many calls of “make some noise” and “Are you ready Brighton?” to encourage the crowd. He also shouted, “Clap your hands. What are you scared of? It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” His continued calls to gesture with your middle finger and shout “F*ck it all” just ended up being a cliche.
While undoubtedly an energetic set, it wasn’t to my taste. Opinion was divided on Kid Bookie’s performance and his unfamiliar pairing of rap and metal. That said, the mosh pit area was lively and many at Chalk were totally into his music.
Kid Bookie setlist:
‘AI (Save Yourself)’
‘Fur Minxxx’
‘Liquor, Sex, Weed’
‘Stuck In My Ways’
‘Creep’ (a Radiohead cover)
‘Scars’
‘In The Dark’
‘All the Same’
