The frontwoman of an Australian pub rock band has admitted she is ‘fuming’ after one of their concerts was forced to be cancelled.
On Friday night, Amyl and the Sniffers were due to play a free gig for fans at Federation Square in Melbourne.
Thousands had turned up to see the band – who are currently supporting AC/DC on their world tour – however the plug was pulled on the show just eight minutes before they’d been due to take to the stage.
Soon after, singer Amy Taylor posted a series of updates on social media expressing her frustrations.
‘At Fed Square and fuming – ready to go,’ she began the first post, which showed her feet as she waited backstage.
‘We are so sorry the show is cancelled due to the event not organising the proper security and barriers, and the barriers being broken in has made them deem it unsafe to play.
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‘We are fuming and shattered and so so so so so so so so so sorry!!!.’ She also used some colourful language to get her annoyance across.
Amy then shared a video, in which she explained: ‘So so so sorry. We are backstage and literally would have loved to play. We are devastated.
‘The fences got crushed in. Too many people. The cops shut it down.
‘We are just really apologetic and really sorry. We were really excited to play and really looking forward to this.’
She later followed up with another post that read: ‘Venue needs to go out with a statement but basically all the fences were allegedly stormed making it unsafe for the punters, so police shut it down!!!
‘My heart is…but we want you to be safe too. Didn’t expect this turn out, so thank you for coming and supporting us.
‘Gonna go get blackout drunk somewhere in mourning.’
She added: ‘You simply cannot imagine the tantrum I’m having.’
Amy later shared a video taken with the rest of the band – drummer Bryce Wilson, guitarist Declan Mehrtens, and bassist Gus Romer – in which she said they felt ‘genuinely bad from the gut’ they couldn’t play.
‘It sucks to not be able to play in our hometown for free. We are not dogging you up. It wasn’t safe and especially because it was all ages, we just can’t have that,’ she said.
She then explained that the band were using their fee to pay for drinks for their fans at seven venues across the city that night.
‘There’s a $5,000 (£2,500) tab at each of those venues, so have a drink on us. We are so sorry, we really wanted to play. Just have some fun tonight.’
Releasing a statement on social media, Federation Square said it was forced to cancel the show ‘after multiple breaches of the perimeter fences caused a very high risk of crowd crushes’.
‘It would be unsafe for the show to continue. We did not take this decision lightly, and are deeply sorry for any disappointment caused, however tonight simply could not continue. Our sincere apologies to the band and their fans.’
The ABC reported that punters arriving late to the free all-ages show were greeted with signs stating the venue was full, with fences erected around the square to control the crowd size.
However, some were then seen kicking and attempting to break through fences after the crowd had reached its capacity, while others tried fighting with security guards after sneaking past barriers.
Amyl and the Sniffers were formed in 2016 and released their self-titled debut album in 2019.
They’ve since released two more albums and have been nominated for nine ARIA Awards, have opened for Fall Out Boy, Green Day and Foo Fighters.
This year they were also nominated for international group of the year at the Brit Awards.
Earlier this year, in March, Kneecap also performed a free gig at Federation Square.
Announcing it just a few hours in advance, the band’s fans raced to the public square – with an estimated 10,000 people turning up.
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