A sold out concert at the Amsterdam venue Paradiso by the controversial punk rap group Bob Vylan passed off peacefully on Saturday evening, despite fears it could be disrupted by by pro-Israel protesters.

However, the exterior was damaged by graffiti and spilled paint overnight. According to a police officer who spoke to Dutch News the vandals responsible left behind an ‘anti racism message.’  A cleanup crew ran out of time and wasn’t able remove all of it before the queue was opened to ticket holders.

Lead vocalist Pascal Robinson-Foster, who goes by the name Bobby Vylan, brazenly asked the crowd ‘if there were any snipers in the room’ as he and his bandmate Bobbie Vylan (Wade Laurence George) took the stage, which was adorned with a Palestinian flag. He later declared the band the most important one in Britain.

Robinson-Foster didn’t mince words during the performance and commented on everything from the band’s recent clashes with the BBC to the assassination of American political activist Charlie Kirk earlier this week.

He dedicated a song to Kirk and quipped that “his pronouns are now was/were.”

He also lambasted those responsible for the graffiti outside, which apparently had at least one typo. “They tried to stop us from playing here today,” he told the crowd. “They spray-painted the building a couple of times and they’re thick as shit so they can’t spell.”

Beefed up security

Precautionary measures on Saturday evening included an increased police presence  outside Paradiso, metal barriers, and additional security checks. Attendees were warned they might be required to show valid ID at the entrance. Bags and jackets were heavily searched and many ticket holders were patted down by security officers.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for Paradiso told Dutch News the venue had not heard any updates about a possible protest from various groups, but that they had received threats for both this show and two performances by the controversial Irish rap group Kneecap that took place at the venue last week.

During an incident in July, two masked individuals held up a banner in front of Paradiso displaying the message “If Bob Vylan plays that night, Amsterdam will stand and fight.”

“Since its founding, Paradiso has been a place for activism,” the venue said in a statement that went out to ticket holders via email on Thursday evening. “While this concert is primarily about the music, activism is inseparably linked to Bob Vylan. Raise your voice, let the performance be a peaceful outlet of energy, respect each other’s opinions, and together make it a wonderful evening.”

Earlier this summer

Bob Vylan came under fire in June for political statements made during a performance at the Glastonbury Festival in Britain. Bobby Vylan, was filmed leading the crowd in a chant of “death, death to the IDF,” referring to the Israeli Defence Forces, and shouting and “free, free Palestine!”

British police later launched an investigation into whether the remarks constituted a criminal offence. The BBC, which had initially broadcast the performance, described the comments as “deeply offensive” and removed the footage from its online platform. Shortly after the Glastonbury set, the US state department’s deputy secretary Christopher Landau announced the band’s stateside visas had been cancelled.

Paradiso, which had originally booked the band as a support act for gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello but later programmed them as headliners on September 13,  subsequently received several threats.

Bobby Vylan defiantly led the Paradiso crowd in three chants of “death, death to the IDF!” during the show and repeatedly called for the liberation of Palestine.

“They’re trying to put fear in us, like we’re not allowed to say it, like we can’t say it,” he said. “Naw, let that chant ring loud, from the UK to the Netherlands to Australia to America.”

He was also eager to make it clear the band is not anti-Jewish. “We’re not hateful, we’re not anti-Semites, we’re anti-Zionist,” he said. “We are anti-oppression, we are anti-facist.”

During the performance, the crowd threw Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian banners on the stage. Bobby Vylan also handed the mic over to audience members who led the crowd in anti-fascist chants.

Not all politics

But it wasn’t all about politics. Members of the audience also threw at least four bras on stage as well.

This was, after all, a punk rap show and a sold out one at that. The boisterous crowd sang along, moshed, and slam-danced. Despite recent setbacks and controversies, the set was a triumphant one for the band.

“You know what happened, some people jumped ship,” Bobby Vylan told the crowd. “Our agent dropped us, our management dropped us, but we don’t need them anyway, because we’re at a sold out Paradiso show with no agent and no manager!”