14 December 2025 – Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane – words and pictures by Clea-marie Thorne
Walking into Suncorp while the sun’s still punching down creating heat with a humid slap. It’s the kind that makes your clothes stick before you even hit the gate.
People are already lining up for merch and buzzing with pre-gig adrenaline. As I approach the gate I realise I’ve missed the first of the support acts Headsend from Byron Bay. Sorry! I always try to support the supports but the combination of my lack of train savvy and photography duties tonight is to blame.
Eventually I make my way inside and before long, I’m hearing the cheers welcoming Amyl and the Sniffers to the stage in front of me. We are soon copping that fuzzy, snarling, chaotic rumble that could only be Amyl and the Sniffers tearing into their set as Amy Taylor (vocals) is stomping across the stage like she owns the whole stadium. Her platinum blonde mullet with 70s style flicked ends is glowing under the lights. I love she is wearing a platinum halter top that reads Amyl Platinum with a warning: Do not inhale!
Amyl & the Sniffers – Suncorp Stadium – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
Taylor’s voice is ripping out of her throat like a busted fire hydrant as she spits out ‘Balaclava Lover Boogie’. Declan Martens (guitar) is chugging out riffs that feel like they’re scraping the rust off the stadium beams, while Gus Romer (bass) and Bryce Wilson (drums) are hammering this straight-up pub-night-on-steroids energy that’s shaking Suncorp awake.
They’re firing through ‘Don’t Need a C..t (Like You to Love Me)’, ‘Doin’ My Head In’ and ‘Snakes’. I’m watching an entire section of AC/DC dads trying to figure out whether to be terrified or impressed. Some teenager near me is screaming every lyric and tipsy dude behind me is yelling “SHE’S A BLOODY WEAPON!” every time Taylor does anything, blinking included.
Smashing through ‘Starfire 500’ and ‘Guided by Angels’ they are giving us that reckless, feral swagger they’re known for with a brute force. It has the crowd is properly warmed and waiting for more of the same.
Amyl & the Sniffers – Suncorp Stadium – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
‘Big Dreams, ‘Knifey’ and ‘Security’ come at us like someone’s poured petrol into the atmosphere and said “yeah this’ll be fine”. Another nine hits smack our eardrums including ‘GFY’, ‘Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled), ‘Tiny Bikini’, and ‘Jerkin’’ before they put usin the backseat while they drive it home with ‘Hertz’. Everyone’s sweating over it’s delicious solo. We are being left perfectly primed.
Punters scurry for refreshments, maybe a bite to eat or take their chances in the merch queues again. Then the lights drop. The digital display takes us on a Power Up journey from the straight road and into the stadium. Fans erupt with roars as the band member are emerging onstage and behind them, they are viewing a video of themselves screaming on the screen behind the legendary Acca Dacca! Yeah, baby!
Then we receive the first explosive crack of ‘If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)’. As it hits the sound slams into me so hard it might just have rearranged my organs, lucky I have one or two missing, right?! I’m watching strangers behind me grab strangers by the shoulders to yell “YOU’VE GOT ITTTT!” straight into each other’s faces. Spittle flying. It’s disgusting. It’s wonderful.
Amyl & the Sniffers – Suncorp Stadium – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
Brian Johnson’s (vocals) wild grin, voice shredding through the dark shadows and blinding lights as he belts out ‘Back in Black’. Cat wailing can be heard from all corners of the venue, even above the band that are sure to be registering on the Richter scale right now. Both Johnson and Angus Young (guitar) are covering all bases on the stage within these first two songs. Getting to the front and sides to greet their fans in all directions who are crushing in the packed out stadium.
‘Demon Fire’. rolls in next and fans implode. Young is tearing it up the fretboard as he makes his way across the stage. I am eagerly waiting for his legs to do that cursed little goblin run. Not yet, that I can see, but his guitar is screaming. Electricity literally visible in the air.
Then ‘Shot Down in Flames’ and the mighty banger, ‘Thunderstruck’. The entire stadium is thundering that “THUN-DER!” bit like 50,000 bogans summoning a weather event while I silently hope the rain stays away. Everywhere I look, I see flashing red devil horns and arms waving in the air like demented windmills.
AC/DC – Suncorp Stadium – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
‘Hells Bells’ is tolling and I’m watching a teenage kid cry, shaking, full-on near emotional collapse. His mum pats his back and yells “THIS IS HISTORY, BABY!” over the guitar. Someone with their shirt off is helicoptering with it on the shoulders of a mate. He is losing his absolute mind.
From here it’s just carnage vocal and fretboard carnage from Johnson and Young. ‘Have a Drink on Me’, ‘Hells Bells’, ‘Shot in the Dark’, ‘Stiff Upper Lip’, ‘Highway to Hell’, ‘Shoot to Thrill’, and ‘Sin City’. Stevie Young (guitar), Matt Laug (drums) and Chris Chaney (bass) relentlessly keep the back end groove and rhythms cooking like the pros they are.
Then the moment I’m waiting for. The one the old dogs told us will happen. ‘Jailbreak’. Being played this on this tour for first time since 1991. As soon as those opening notes ring out, half the crowd goes feral. Like proper feral. A woman near me drops her cider and doesn’t even mourn it. Young is dragging a solo out like he’s summoning every ghost in Aussie rock history, sweat flying, fingers blurred. Man, I reckon it could possibly be a 40 year old onstage wearing a special-FX Angus Young meat suit. I swear Young’s got the fortitude of Roger Federer with guitar chops instead of a racket!
AC/DC – Suncorp Stadium – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
They are backing this up with another oldie that’s never gone mouldy! ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’. Punters are roaring the lyrics. Johnson taking the low end growl towards the end and we all try to match it “Dirty deeds and they’re done dirt cheap”.
They power us up even more with ‘High Voltage’ (pun totally intended), ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ and ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ are leaving my throat hoarse. The nostalgia is very much alive and kicking, even bouncing off the bleachers. I’m so soaked in so much sweat there’s probably electrolytes crystallising on my skin at this point.
‘Let There Be Rock’ crushes the eardrums and 50000 fists or horns being raised throughout the stadium. Those flashing red devil horns are almost inducing an epileptic seizure in me. There are so many illuminating the heads of fans. Young is being raised up on scissor lift that is emerging from the end of the thrust stage/catwalk. Cannons are now blasting CO2 and masses of confetti to rain down on the moshers in the standing area. What sight and the punters are wild for it!
AC/DC – Suncorp Stadium – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
The encore detonates the stadium — ‘T.N.T.’ has bogan voices yelling “oi, oi, oi” to the beat of the music and bodies are thrashing out any energy they have been conserving well into ‘For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)’. Extreme lighting beams and this time fireballs. Grown men saluting with deadly sincerity. A bloke yells “I’m gonna feel this tomorrow!” as he screams the final “We salute you!” as he heads towards the exit making his strategic getaway with some others before the full force fan stampede arrives.
And as I’m staggering out onto Milton Road with thousands of other buzzing idiots, ears ringing like faulty smoke alarms, shirt clinging to me like a wet rag, I’m thinking: I’ve come straight off the power grid into the night. I’m not walking, I’m vibrating all the way home on a train with a bunch of energised strangers. No band tonight took up too much of the set time with dialogue. It was clear they were here to rock on and give us our money’s worth. AC/DC providing the Power Up shock. Amyl providing the jump start.
And me? I finally make it home safe with emotions still crackling like exposed wire even though my body is totally spent.
