I went to the 02 Forum at the heart of the prime minister’s North London constituency to find out what it is that makes so many people shout the slogans that would previously have been reserved for extremists
November 12, 2025 14:07
If an echo chamber was a real place, it would be a concert hall when Bob Vylan is performing, as I witnessed first-hand on Tuesday night at the 02 Forum in Kentish Town.
After writing dozens of stories on the anti-Israel punk rap duo, and watching hundreds of clips from their gigs, I was expecting Pascal Robinson-Foster, stage name Bobby Vylan, to spend the entire show shouting out war cries against the Jewish state, rallying the 2,000-strong crowd to do the same – but it didn’t turn out that way.
This, it seems, is the image of the old Bobby Vylan - the Glastonbury Bobby Vylan. The Robinson-Foster of November 2025 has transcended into what he apparently sees as a revolutionary, someone who no longer needs to speak to be heard, to be followed, a bit like Jesus - or maybe the Pied Piper.
Outside the Forum there was a battlefield. Two armies - pro-Palestinian activists and pro-Israel protestors, both sides held back by metal barricades and the Metropolitan Police and in the middle: Highgate Road.
Two men, both with their faces covered, were walking up and down, one tearing down anti-Bob Vylan posters put up by pro-Israel campaign group Stop The Hate, and the other handing out pro-Palestinian flyers.
As I queued to get into the gig, chants of "free, free Palestine" and "Am Yisrael Chai" echoed out across Kentish Town. Others in the queue screamed: "Death, death to the IDF!"
One middle-aged woman in the queue suddenly burst into tears and, catching her breath, said of the pro-Israelis: "Why are they here? I'm scared."
A man in the queue put his arm around her and replied: "Don't worry, they can't hurt us."
It later transpired that five people were arrested during the protests, including one suspected of assault following a physical altercation between the groups.
I was one of the first to enter the Forum, and it was uncanny to go into a concert hall to get away from the noise.
Soon enough, however, it started filling up, and I found myself surrounded by the very people who were shouting for the murder of Israeli soldiers outside.
Not being a seasoned gig-goer (at 29 this was my first ever live concert), I had also unwittingly found myself in the “mosh pit” and, when the heavy metal support act started playing, I simultaneously realised both what a mosh pit is and how much I need to put on some weight.
But I was less worried about being knocked over and far more concerned about my Star of David slipping out from the safety of the inside of my shirt.
When Pascal Robinson-Foster and drummer Wade Laurence George (helpfully named Bobbie Vylan) came to the stage, Robinson-Foster asked the crowd: "How many of you found out about Bob Vylan after our Glastonbury set?
He spoke about a recent complaint the band had upheld against Manchester Evening News and said Bob Vylan is "coming for them", and that other papers will be next.
There were a handful of Israel-orientated moments in between songs, but they were fleeting.
He briefly chanted "Free, free", prompting the audience to reply "Palestine". A "death, death to the IDF" chant erupted in the crowd, but he refused to join in. A quick call-out was made to the UK government alleging that ministers claim the UK can't afford to let migrants in whilst funding other countries' “war crimes” - and a call was made for protesters to not just chant, but to "mobilise".
Other than these moments, nothing else was said about Israel - not by Robinson-Foster at least. He didn’t need to – Since Glastonbury it was evident he had said more than enough already for his followers to take the baton.
There was a prevailing sense that his work had been done, and it was now up to them to continue the fight.
When he jumped off the stage and crowd surfed, these followers reached out to touch him in a manner more akin to the stretching out of a hand to a spiritual leader than trying to grab hold of a rock star.
One young woman told me: "I flew to London especially to see Bob Vylan."
I got talking to her and ended up spending the rest of the evening doing so. We left together after the gig at midnight and, being a nice Jewish boy, I decided I would walk her back to her hostel.
We talked the whole way about Bob Vylan and what Robinson-Foster stands for, and half an hour later when I left her at the hostel door, I could see as clear as day why so many people now think it is completely okay to chant for the death of soldiers in the army of the world’s only Jewish state –because they were simply told to.
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