Amyl & the Sniffers @ The Mission Ballroom on 3/31/25
Photos 1, 3, and 4 are by Michael McGrath
Photos 2 and 5 are by Sam Zalkin
As Amyl and the Sniffers took the stage Monday night at the Mission, lead singer Amy Taylor instructed the crowd:
“If anybody falls down, you help them up. Do not touch anybody who does not want to be touched!”
The Mission was packed.
With the tone set, they opened with “Control.” Taylor bounced, paced and danced as she shout-sang “I like being a big bad boss / I like telling people off!” with her platinum blonde Farrah hair flying. Her F the critics and sexist wankers lyrics, delivered with insistent vocals `a la Poly Styrene fulfilled expectations.
Singer Amy Taylor is known for her energy. The line, “I’ve got plenty of energy / It’s my currency” from their song “Guided by Angels” says it all. Taylor has been labeled “the next Iggy Pop,” “Australia’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll frontperson,” and an all-around superstar by fans and reviewers, so my expectations were high. I was not disappointed.
Lest I give the impression that Taylor’s performance overshadowed her bandmates, rest assured the Sniffers (guitarist Declan Mehrtens, bassist Gus Romer and drummer Bryce Wilson) played a tight set that included songs from their three albums, including their latest raucous alt/punk gem “Cartoon Darkness.” Mehrtens’ easily transitioned between the punk buzzsaw of “Control,” “Got You” and “GFY” to the AC/DC-tinged “Do It Do It” and “Doing In Me Head.” Likewise, bassist Romer led the charge on “U Should Not Be Doing That” and “Knifey.”
Given the amount of press Taylor receives, it was a relief to see there was no tension within the band. (Side note, yes, Almost Famous is one of my favorite movies.)
About halfway through the night, Taylor took a moment to talk about domestic and sexual violence. She said she usually dedicates the song “Knifey” to the women in the audience, but this time, she was going to dedicate it to the guys. She urged the men in the audience:
“Talk to the fellas, try to help them, try to call them out, try to stop it before it happens, so that we can just get on with our shit and enjoy ourselves without getting… beaten, or talked down to, or any of that crap, because we’ve had enough.” Her plea was met with cheers.
The crowd, an eclectic mix of punks, girls in bikini tops (an homage to the song “Tiny Bikini”), goths, metal heads and average-looking folks, sang along to the chorus of almost every song. It was great to see so many women feeding off the rowdy, primal energy Taylor exudes.
I stood at the far side of the stage expecting a big mosh pit, but the Mission was packed, and there were enough people content to jump in place that I remained relatively unscathed. Inevitably, as the crowd shifted during the show, a six-foot-something dude ended up directly in front of me. In an alternate universe somewhere, there are people under five-five directly in front of the stage at every show, those of average height in the middle, and the trees are content to stand in the back. Lucky for me at this show there were cameras pointed at the band projecting onto the screen behind them and I could shift side to side to catch some of the action.
Blocked view aside, the show was a punk feminist blast. It made me wish I could brag that I’d seen Amyl and the Sniffers back when they started out.
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