Amyl and the Sniffers – live in Bristol

Amyl and the Sniffers at O2 Academy Bristol (11.11.2024) with Upchuck supporting.

Huge anticipation for this. I have seen Amyl and the Sniffers a couple of times at festivals but this is my first tour gig and indoors; packed indoors; sold out sweaty and expectant indoors.

Glastonbury John Peel Tent 2022 and Victorious 2023 (links to my YouTube channel) were tasters of what was possible. Now the room is filled with punters who know the songs and have come for this band only. What a buzz.

Upchuck, a rip-roaring and relatively new (2018) American punk band, from Atlanta, do a really good job of stirring the excitement and keeping the wait tolerable. The drummer sings a few songs, to give the main frontman KT a break from his stage workout – very visual.

For this one I’m tucked in on the small, raised area at the rear of the right side on dancefloor – favourite spot. I don’t move from here – no drinks option – I just don’t need the hassle for what’s on offer – I’ve been in The White Lion beforehand instead. (More on the venue here in my venue blog.)

On they come. Bright white spotlights illuminate Amy Taylor and another creative outfit with essence of 70s New York Debbie Harry. The click and clunk of guitar jack plugs going in. Crash – we’re off with Doing in Me Head a full-on instant hit from the new album. The place just explodes.

Straight into signature tune, Freaks to the Front. They’re going a bit early, aren’t they? Will they run out of steam? I needn’t have worried. Amy continues leaping, swearing, bending, smiling, bobbing and gobbing her way through the set.

So early in the set, but just about the best is Security. Beautiful mayhem re-erupts on the bouncing floor. This is non-stop. What a great compact venue for it – it’s Ally Pally later in the week.

I am standing here wondering when I last saw and felt a gig like this. My mind wanders back, and back, and back. I stall at memories of The Undertones at Hammersmith Palais and on back to standing four rows in front of a white spotlight illuminated Johnny Ramone at The London Rainbow – it’s THAT good.

There may be an increased intensity from that feel of a rare visit from an overseas band, making it more essential to saviour. How many overseas bands of this genre can ever generate this reaction?

The new album, Cartoon Darkness, is still growing into me and taking hold, so the run of Security, Guided by Angels and then Knifey (creepy and confident), all from the 2021 album Comfort to Me is lapped up.

The lyrics are so important, blunt and you can hear them – so much to sing along, chant along to. She wrote these lyrics and the crowd can sing them back to order when the mic is turned on them, or not. Some fabulous sweary stuff and the whole performance has a wonderful ‘I don’t give a shit’ stance – this is us; this is me. The rest of the band don’t share Amy’s exuberance – it would get a bit chaotic if they did – they concentrate on providing the sound canvas she needs.

Quite heavy rock guitar riffs are exposed in some songs by Declan Mehrtens – Chewing Gum a good example, and a song that really has ‘stuck on me’ since they performed it in the calm of the Later with Jools Holland studio a few weeks back – incongruously alongside Dave Gilmour and his daughter.

As a change from the moshpit wildness – just about all of downstairs was the moshpit – Tiny Bikini sees women emerge on shoulders, in bikini tops in a show of strength. The lyrics are along the lines of I don’t care about the grief and others’ reactions, I am going to wear what I want.

The age and gender balance in here tonight is perhaps surprising. It is all ages and there are a fair few grey-haired and no-haired gig goers in. Good news travels through the generations.

Are they punk rockers? Are they pub rockers? They don’t care, do they? They’re from Melbourne, Australia and they are having an absolute blast and everyone is loving it.

They play all but two songs from the Cartoon Darkness album and it all almost as many from the Comfort to Me album. They finish, after a brief and uneventful wait for an encore, with GFY from their first and self-titled 2019 album, then an even earlier single/ EP track, Balaclava Lover Boogie, from a few years earlier.

Gig of the year – gig of the decade? I’ve waited 40 years to witness this sort of gig again. Fantastic night……and now off they go to conquer London. I retire to get a pint in the Mother’s Ruin bar with friends and chew it over.

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My copy of the latest album, Cartoon Darkness, was delivered as I finished writing this …