Amyl & The Sniffers: The Two Weeks That Changed Everything

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Published November 23, 2025 by Joel King

For most bands, a breakout year comes slowly. For Amyl & The Sniffers, it hit like a lightning strike, two chaotic, culture shifting, career defining weeks where Melbourne’s favourite punk export did not just play shows, they redefined what modern Australian rock looks like at full scale.

It began with the free Fed Square show on November 14th, a moment meant to be a victory lap after joining AC DC’s stadium tour. Instead, the crowd swelled, barricades strained, and the night collapsed into a full blown cultural flashpoint. The gig was shut down mid event, the police investigation began within hours, and suddenly the entire country was arguing about crowd behaviour, live music safety, and whether Melbourne had become too big and too wild to contain moments like this.

Most bands would have gone quiet. Amyl did the opposite.

Within a matter of hours after the Fed Square shutdown, the band dropped 35 thousand dollars in bar tabs across seven independent venues, instantly flipping a chaotic night into a citywide celebration. It was not damage control, it was a cultural statement. A thank you to the scene that raised them. Venues rallied. Fans doubled down. The conversation shifted from blame to admiration almost instantly.

Then came the coronation.

At the 2025 ARIA Awards, Cartoon Darkness did not just perform well, it bulldozed the competition. Album of the Year. Best Rock Album. Best Group. A clean sweep that made it clear Amy Taylor was not just leading a band, she was the gravitational centre of Australian rock.

And then, as a final exclamation point on the fortnight, Amyl stepped onto the biggest stages in the country, joining AC DC on their stadium run and performing in front of tens of thousands of people. These shows did not just elevate the band, they cemented the moment as a cultural shift.

Blunt Magazine photographer James Miller captured the band’s explosive performance with AC DC at Accor Stadium in Sydney on November 21, 2025. The images carry the exact energy of the moment, raw adrenaline, swagger, chaos, triumph, and a band levelling up in real time.

Scroll through the gallery below and relive the Accor Stadium performance that capped off a chaotic, career-defining fortnight.