Amyl and The Sniffers
The Vic// Chicago, IL // September 28, 2022
Amyl and The Sniffers put on one of the best punk shows The Vic has seen in years.
Imagine a venue that rarely sees crowd surfing. It’s a modest venue that holds 1,000 people, and the balcony is all seated. Suddenly, people start crowd surfing across the sweaty throngs of fans to the stage. Australian punk band Amyl and The Sniffers did just that: they turned a fairly chill venue into a loud and raucous space for one night. The band, fronted by vocalist Amy Taylor, has shot to popularity in the U.S. thanks in part to their sophomore album, Comfort to Me. Amyl and the Sniffers also recently opened for the European leg of the Hella Mega Tour, featuring Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer. While their success is largely due to playing arena shows as an opener, the band is so much better headlining their own shows in smaller music venues.
Amyl and the Sniffers played a nearly 20-song setlist, barely stopping between songs to chat with the crowd in order to keep the energy going. Amy Taylor wore an amazing bodysuit and blue shorts, frequently posing like a bodybuilder to show off her muscles. Throughout the night, Taylor’s screaming vocals shot through The Vic, all the way up to the balcony. The band played through some of their bigger hits like “Guided by Angels” and “Security”, with Amy Taylor playfully singing to the security guards at the barricade. During the end of the show, Taylor jumped into the crowd and tried to crowd surf herself, only to ironically be pulled back by security. She still managed to sing directly to some of the band’s die-hard fans in the front row, handing them the mic whenever she could.
This show had everything: mosh pits, singalongs, sick guitar solos, and, of course, crowd surfing. Amyl and the Sniffers are already big in America, but there is no doubt that they’re only getting bigger. If they keep playing sets like they did in Chicago, they’re slated to become one of the biggest punk bands in the country. We can only wait and hope to see them in even bigger venues in the coming years.