Amyl and The Sniffers, Mannequin Pussy, Bob Vylan @ Terminal 5

by Kate Hoos | Sep 29, 2022 | Shows

Amyl and The Sniffers at Terminal 5 (photo by Kate Hoos)

Amyl and The Sniffers have been on a relentless tour during most of 2022, crisscrossing their home country of Australia as well as Europe and making two different trips to North America in support of their latest album, Comfort To Me. Having sold out Brooklyn Steel this past May (a show I unfortunately missed due to being abroad at the time), they returned to New York last week to take on Terminal 5 and brought their pub rock rodeo to the cavernous former nightclub along with stellar support acts Mannequin Pussy (Philadelphia) and Bob Vylan (London) making for a truly international night of high intensity, multi-faceted punk rock. I also worked the show for the venue and this is one of those shows that made me pinch myself not only in that the lineup was so good but wow, someone is giving me a paycheck to attend?! Shows like this make me even more grateful for my job (which I am already pretty damn grateful for) and so happy to be able to do what I do.

Hip-hop punk duo Bob Vylan kicked off the night and after doing some warm up stretches, went in full steam ahead. Starting the set with “I Heard You Want Your Country Back,” they wasted no time taking command of the stage and wowing the early crowd with their fervid performance, repeating the refrain “I heard You want your country back, shut the fuck up!” Their set was a high octane blast of political and righteous fury, which saw vocalist Bobby Vylan in and out of the crowd more than once (and waiving off security saying “I’m a man of the people”) while spitting rhymes critical of the UK and society as a whole, asking much needed questions about power, control, and the poisons that continue to plague the world. He was backed with furious pre-recorded guitar riffs and the hard hitting live beats of drummer Bobbie Vylan. I feel bad for everyone who arrived late and didn’t get to see their set because they really missed out.

They’re a band who has been on my radar to see but wasn’t sure when they’d make it to the States so I was more than delighted when I learned they’d be on this lineup. They’re just starting to make inroads in the US and are very much a band to keep your eyes on. There are not many acts performing at this level, already perfectly primed to be taking on much bigger stages so don’t sleep on them. They told me after the show that they plan to return to the US next spring for their own headline dates and I am very much anticipating that. (Read an interview with the band talking about their most recent album, Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life.)

Bob Vylan at Terminal 5

Philadelphia’s Mannequin Pussy hit the middle slot and were another band that somehow had always dodged my being able to see them for some reason or another. Grateful that the drought has now ended, I loved their set of hard edged indie pop punk, synth twinged ragers. Hit after hit, song after song, they kept things dialed way up to 11 and kept audience engagement high. Around halfway through their set, singer Missy Dabice made time to speak on critically important issues that we are currently facing, which was mostly met first with rapt attention and then with cheers, though one triggered old man in the back near where I was at that point yelled “shut the fuck up I didn’t come here for a lecture, this is a punk show!” which fortunately Dabice was much too far away to hear and thus kept going (not that she would or should have stopped for this fossil’s feelings anyway).

This absolutely confounded me and left me gobsmacked because yeah I came to a punk show too! And I absolutely WANT to hear the bands addressing these issues and calling out systemic inequality and WANT to be part of the solutions; I have a very hard time understanding those who don’t. Grandpa was clearly lost and hopefully shuffled his way out the door not long after or better yet, took the time to stop being obstinate and actually listen to what these artists were so clearly saying. Similarly, bassist Colins Rey Regisford addressed issues facing Black and Brown people and sent their final powerful song of the night, the anti cop ripper “Pigs Is Pigs,” “to every Black and Brown person in the room,” jumping down to sing on the barrier directly to the crowd for a major highlight of the evening.

Missy Dabice of Mannequin Pussy addressing the crowd

“Pigs Is Pigs” live in 2021

The crowd well and truly at a fever pitch, it was time for Amyl and The Sniffers to hit the stage and hit it they did, coming out to the soundtrack of the Cardi B instant classic, “WAP,” before launching themselves out of a cannon and into a blistering 18 song set of punk rock mania.

And while this band seemingly comes in a fun, party package—with crunchy power chords and white hot guitar leads, rowdy sing along choruses and a holy helping of snark from singer Amy Taylor—that is just the entry point into the political nature of many of their songs and their existence as a band. The venue was labeled with signs making it very clear where they stand on the issue of sexual assault and discrimination, doing their best to ensure everyone who attended had a good and safe time. As someone who runs a blog and also works full time in venues so thus is at shows almost every single day, this is something I don’t see many bands doing even in 2022 and is especially surprising that more don’t after so many allegations have been raised against abusive men in bands and audience behavior has been questioned (IE cis men in audiences). I was thrilled to help hang the signs up before the show and I truly wish that more artists would follow this example and have similar very bluntly stated zero tolerance policies for their shows.

In keeping with the political themes and raising awareness, Taylor sent the forceful and unfortunately relatable “Knifey” out to “all my women and non-binary mates,” which was met with cheers not because we like the subject matter, but because all of us can relate to the fear of walking home alone at night and being assaulted by a predatory man and all of us can relate to taking the power back from those very same men. At another point when remarking on Australian culture and AC/DC, she told the crowd “whenever you think of AC/DC, remember the First Nation’s peoples because Australia always was and always will be Aboriginal land.” Other highlights of the night were the trio of heavy hitting personal favorites “Control,” “Freaks to the Front,” and “Gacked On Anger,” which kicked off their set and the late set pairing of “Got You,” and “Snakes” which Taylor introduced by saying Australians were afraid to come to the States because of all the guns and Americans are afraid to go to Australia because of all the snakes (count me among them, no thanks to snakes!).

Spitfire performers through and through, the entire band captivated the audience; Taylor strutted back and forth in a gold lamé body suit, with all the prowess of a 1980s WWF wrestler, keeping the amped up crowd fully in her sway while the rest of the band—guitarist Dec Martins, drummer Bryce Wilson and bassist Fergus Romer—rocked and rolled behind her. Taylor eventually jumped down into the thick of things to be closer to the crowd for a song, made a pit stop to dance with a security guard, and then sang directly to the delighted fans on the barrier, not one of whom didn’t shout along word for word. A very active crowd, bodies were surfing towards the front and good vibes flying even higher all through the night.

Amyl and The Sniffers at Terminal 5

This was one of those shows that I’m going to remember for a long time to come, truly a through and through banger for the ages. Anyone who came to sing their hearts out and get a cathartic blast of punk positivity certainly came to the right place too. And in my book, you really can’t ask for anything better than that.

Scroll down for setlist, live videos and pics of the show (photos by Kate Hoos)

Amyl and The Sniffers setlist: Control, Freaks to the Front, Gacked on Anger, Monsoon Rock, Maggot, Shake Ya, Capital, Security, Choices, Guided By Angels, Knifey, GFY, Don’t Need A Cunt (Like You to Love Me), Got You, Snakes, Balaclava Lover Boogie, Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled), Hertz