Amyl and the Sniffers respond as fans complain of harassment at Brisbane show

Every Amyl and the Sniffers concert begins with a warning from frontwoman Amy Taylor: “If someone falls down, help them up, and don’t touch anyone who doesn’t want to be touched.”

Their recent sold-out shows at The Tivoli in Brisbane were no exception.

The Melbourne-based punk rock band asked for signs detailing their zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy, and gave instructions for venue staff and security to immediately kick out anyone accused of sexual harassment or assault.

Amyl and the Sniffers perform at The Tivoli in Brisbane.Credit: Brisbane Times

But for 20-year-old fan Ameya Jaurigue, these efforts weren’t enough to stop men around her from touching her without her consent and targeting her with racist abuse.

“For this to have happened at a concert like this was a big whack in the face,” Jaurigue says.

She attended the January 31 gig with friends, but was separated from them in the mosh pit. She says the harassment began during the support acts.

When Indigenous singer-songwriter Miss Kaninna started talking about racism, Jaurigue said, “it emboldened many people around me to make jokes and remarks that only got progressively worse throughout the night”.

“There was not a moment where I didn’t have a drunk man touching me, rubbing themselves on me, holding themselves upright by my waist.”

Rachelle, concert-goer

During Amyl’s set, Jaurigue was touched by strangers under her T-shirt and had her glasses held out of reach. “It was very distressing and made me even more vulnerable.”

After she complained to The Tivoli and posted about her experience publicly, she was met with a flood of similar experiences from women around Australia.

On Friday morning, following inquiries from this masthead, Amyl and the Sniffers singer Taylor released a statement.

Part of a statement released by Amyl and the Sniffers on Instagram after reports of sexual harrassment.

“It has come to my attention that some people at The Tivoli show experienced assault. That’s so fkd [sic] up. Thanks to the people that spoke up, your voice is always heard,” she wrote.

“...f*** anyone who isn’t got it clear that this is not a space for groping or worse. Don’t come to the show if your [sic] about that.”

Another woman at the gig, Rachelle, says she had visited The Tivoli for more than a decade without complaint, but felt compelled to contact the venue after the Brisbane show.

“I, among several other women, was harassed by multiple drunk men during the show,” she told the venue, in a complaint seen by this masthead.

“There was not a moment through the entire evening where I didn’t have a drunk man touching me without my consent, drunkenly spitting abuse and their germs too close to my face, rubbing themselves on me, holding themselves upright by my waist, calling me disgusting things or trying to stick their hands places after I have repeatedly told them to leave me alone or stop touching me.”

She says she had approached a security guard, who told her he couldn’t leave his post outside the bathrooms.

Olive, who attended the Brisbane show with her partner, recalls a man “trying to force” a drink on some women he had not left alone for the whole event. After repeated rejections, “a different man stepped in and asked if they knew him, they said they didn’t”.

Andie, who also went to the show, says she witnessed constant predatory behaviour from a group of older men towards a young, solo woman.

“These ugly things come through the cracks, but they’re actually under the surface everywhere.”

Ben Green, music industry researcher

“Amyl and the Sniffers put in so much effort to profile their value system and their expectations with their audience,” Andie says, “and I am so encouraged to see so many women, especially young women, there.

“I would hate to see them put off but I was just disgusted by what I saw from a series of older men.”

Dave Sleswick, the creative director for The Tivoli and Princess Theatre, says the reports are incredibly distressing.

“To find out something has happened in our venue, to not have been able to act on it because we didn’t know about it, is really upsetting for us. We’re not an organisation that takes those types of things lightly,” he says.

The Tivoli took extra steps to prepare for the show and likelihood of moshing, he says, including added security. “We had removals on the night for reported incidences of bad behaviour or general intoxication, which is all very standard.”

This week, he says, he met with staff and venue managers, arranged another debrief with the hired security firm, and contacted Jaurigue to talk about her experience on the night.

Sleswick encouraged patrons to speak up about misconduct. “We don’t tolerate that type of activity.”

Sexual harassment of audiences made headlines last year when complaints surfaced about Good Things festival, including groping and non-consensual filming in mosh pits.

In 2023, a survey of women and non-binary punters and musicians in Melbourne found 60 per cent of respondents felt unsafe in music spaces.

Amy Taylor with fans at a 2023 show in Victoria.Credit: Martin Philbey

Music industry researcher Ben Green says the issues are not necessarily happening more often, but are being addressed more openly, amidst a broader “societal issue of sexism and of male entitlement”.

“Live music is one of the places where these societal issues bubble out because there’s a little bit of freedom and looseness there. So these ugly things come through the cracks, but they’re actually under the surface everywhere.”

Green says the response from the band and the venue this week moved the conversation in the right direction.

“This isn’t a new thing, it’s something that women have suffered in various places, including live music and rock shows, for a very long time. It shouldn’t be suffered in silence,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we’re talking about an ingrained attitude in our sexist society. You can’t expect that to change at a gig but we can confront that in every part of our lives, from the home to the workplace to the live music venue.”

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