As I approached the McMenamins Crystal Ballroom this past Tuesday, I quickly saw the signs that this show from Amyl and the Sniffers, Australia’s punk powerhouse quartet, was going to be a different kind of night. The sold-out venue was unlike anything I’d seen recently at the Crystal—lines wrapped around the block, and the mess of people near the merch table made for a chaotic scrum just waiting to climb the stairs to the show floor. 

Even before the band took the stage, the atmosphere was charged. Security personnel came around to give photographers a heads-up: be prepared to move aside when the crowd surfing begins—a telling preview of what was about to come. When Amy Taylor and her bandmates—guitarist Declan Martens, bassist Gus Romer, and drummer Bryce Wilson—exploded onto the stage, the crowd erupted. Taylor surveyed the packed crowd with a smile on her face, drink in hand, before the band launched into their loud and frenzied show.

 In a real rarity for live music photography, the band was covered in bright stage lighting as Taylor made great use of her platform, canvassing it from side to side, fist pumping, and jumping all around with manic energy. After starting the show from the stage, Taylor leapt off the edge and charged through the center of the crowd while still belting out lyrics, inciting the crowd even further. It was extremely toasty in the ballroom with all the bodies, and at one point Taylor grabbed one of the stage fans and hoisted it above her head, creating an impromptu cooling system that perfectly captured her DIY ethos.

My three-song limit ended after the anthemic “Doing In My Head,” which found the crowd chanting along to the final line of the chorus, a satisfying way to be ushered away from the pit, thankfully before any crowd surfers came close. This was my first time seeing Amyl and the Sniffers live, and I couldn’t have asked for a more authentic, high-voltage introduction to their world.