Maybe it was the impending full moon. Or the heat or the political churn of July — or just the high octane energy of the bands performing (probably that) — but the crowd at White Eagle Hall on Saturday night for Amyl and the Sniffers were ready to go bananas and did so right from the get-go. It certainly helps that Amyl and the Sniffers’ bandleader Amy Taylor is part Gremlin and part punk rock aerobics instructor and was bouncing off the walls, dancing, throwing shapes, whipping her hair around, sticking out her tongue and generally going as crazy as the roiling pit that she inspired.
This was one of Amyl’s intimate club shows they’re doing while on Foo Fighters’ stadium tour. They’d just played a show at NYC’s Citi Field, which I’m sure was its own kind of energy, but you can tell they thrive on being being close to a sweaty mass that are all there to see them. They opened with “Balaclava Lover Boogie,” their 2017 debut single, and didn’t let up for the whole show, which included almost all of 2021’s Comfort To Me and a good chunk of their 2019 self-titled debut. They also played both their two new songs — “Facts” and “U Should Not Be Doing That” — which the crowd clearly knew and loved. When they played “Freaks in the Front” early in the set, I thought, it was freaks all the way to the back of the room.
The crowd were also primed by openers Lambrini Girls, whose singer/guitarist Phoebe Lunny spent most of their set in the crowd or on top of it. The Brighton UK band are strident in their politics, nearly every song was a call to arms, but they also like to have fun, as Lunny had the audience get down on the floor, leap up and smash into each other. They’ve got a few other shows with Amyl and the Sniffers through August as well as many headline shows (they’d played Brooklyn the night before) and are well worth catching if they play near you.
Check out Amyl and the Sniffers’ White Eagle Hall setlist and a few videos below.
SETLIST: Amyl and The Sniffers @ White Eagle Hall 7/20/2024
Balaclava Lover Boogie
Freaks to the Front
Security
Capital
Got You
No More Tears
Maggot
Choices
Snakes
Knifey
Control
Facts
Starfire 500
Guided by Angels
I’m Not a Loser
Hertz
Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled)
Encore:
U Should Not Be Doing That
GFY