Bob Vylan, perhaps last year’s most contested band, will play Bergenfest on Thursday 11 June 2026.
The London-based duo Bobby and Bobbie operate across a subcultural, genre-spanning landscape rooted in punk, with elements of rap, grime and club music. You can hear traces of Bad Brains, The Prodigy and 2000s punk rock, but their sound is defined above all by lyrics that are direct, political and uncompromising.
Bob Vylan do not bow to pressure. After the controversies surrounding Glastonbury last year, cancellations, postponed shows, lost festival bookings and scrapped tours, the band have made it clear they have no intention of fading quietly into the background. Their music is released on their own label, Ghost Theatre, a principle they have held to since their second album. Even so, Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life entered the UK Top 20, becoming the first album in history to be entirely self-produced, recorded, mixed and released independently to reach the charts. DIY with real impact.
Songs like “Makes Me Violent” and “We Live Here”, which give voice to what systematic exclusion feels like on a personal level, have amassed millions of streams and built a community defined by resistance, a following that stretches from Iggy Pop to listeners far beyond the underground.
Their Bergenfest show will be a rare chance to experience contemporary punk at its most uncompromising, completely free of major-label agendas, crowd-pleasing tactics or polished imagery. Consider yourself warned.