Is there a better way to spend a Saturday night than with Aussie punk heroes Amyl And The Sniffers? Hitting Manchester on the fourth night of their sold out European tour things are about to get loud.
The night starts with the bands fellow Australians Upchuck. Warming things up perfectly the band rip through a set straight out of the punk hand book. Gritty and raw, I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of Upchuck.
Arriving on stage at five past nine, front woman Amy Taylor waltzes out and screams “oi oi,” to a crowd who screams it straight back at her. Now as I’ve said, this is a sold out tour for the band’s latest album Cartoon Darkness which was released just over two weeks ago – not that you’d know that tonight. Kicking things off with ‘Doing In Me Head’, it would be impossible to know this track is new when the whole venue sings every word.
Coming up early is Comfort To Me classic ‘Freaks To The Front’, and as soon as that bass line begins its carnage. Like a fuse just waiting to be lit as the track kicks in the crowd explodes. There’re drinks being thrown, there’s crowd surfers, there’s people on shoulders – it’s dirty rotten punk.
Getting her message across early, Amy Taylor addresses the crowd giving them strict instructions for the night and telling us that tonight is for everyone. Signs are scattered around the venue informing the crowd that the band stand for no tolerance of discrimination or assault of any sort, which should be a welcome inclusion at any gig.
‘Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled)’ sees fists in the air and even louder singing from a crowd who seemed to give everything in the first two songs. It was clear at this point, we weren’t in for a normal gig.
While Comfort To Me classics receive the biggest reception of the night, not a single new track falls flat. ‘Chewing Gum’, ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’ and ‘Jerkin’’ feel like they’ve been around for years with them being some of the biggest singalongs of the night.
Finishing with a two song encore of ‘Balaclava Loving Boogie’ and ‘GFY’, both the band and everyone in the Academy pour everything into a frantic last five minutes. Can you end a gig better than 3,000 people screaming “Go fuck yourself,”?
This was punk at its finest. There is nothing pretty, there is nothing perfected – its raw, its full of attitude, its real. This is a band standing up for their beliefs, their opinions and their sound. Potentially the most important band in punk right now – Amyl And The Sniffers showed Manchester just why they’re at the top of the scene.
