Melrose Avenue Brings Big Energy to Amsterdam Bar and Hall

Photojournalist: Sophia Bronwyn

For a Sunday evening show, the crowd at Amsterdam Bar and Hall came ready to have fun. Punk crowds can sometimes seem intimidating from the outside looking in, but this ended up being one of the nicest and most welcoming crowds I’ve been part of in a long time.

I spent most of the night hanging closer to the back, trying not to get in anyone’s way, but somehow still ended up making friends with a group camped around a table conveniently sitting in the middle of the floor. Even better, throughout the night, they kept slowly inching the table farther forward toward the stage. At that point, I was secretly rooting for them to somehow make it all the way to the front by the end of the night.

The opening acts, Stray View and Autumn Kings, were bands I wasn’t overly familiar with going into the night, but both quickly earned a spot on my ever-growing Spotify playlist. Each brought their own energy to the room and did exactly what great openers should do: warm the crowd up while making new fans along the way.

By the time Melrose Avenue took the stage, the room was more than ready to unleash that built-up energy, and the band immediately fed into it. From the start of their set, they came out swinging, matching the crowd’s intensity without ever letting the momentum dip.

The last time I had seen Melrose Avenue was at Fillmore Minneapolis opening for Ice Nine Kills on a much larger stage, but what stood out most during this show was how little their performance style changed in a smaller venue. Some bands lose part of their presence once the giant production disappears, but Melrose Avenue performed with the exact same intensity and confidence, proving they don’t need a massive stage setup to command a room.

Frontman Vlado Saric especially knows how to capture attention. There’s an undeniable charm to the way he carries himself onstage, and he’s fully aware of how to use it. Between the force of his vocals, constant movement, and eventually ditching his shirt midway through the set, it became impossible for the crowd to look anywhere else. It also became very obvious why the band helped inspire the punk romance novel Through The Storm.

One of the standout moments of the night came when the band covered “Drown” by Bring Me the Horizon. The song already carries an emotional weight on its own, but hearing it performed live in a packed room full of people screaming every word back somehow made it hit even harder. It was one of those moments where the entire crowd locked into the same feeling at once.

For a Sunday night show, the energy inside Amsterdam Bar and Hall never once felt tired. Between the welcoming crowd, strong opening sets, and Melrose Avenue’s relentless performance, the night felt like the perfect reminder that some of the best live music experiences happen in smaller venues where everyone in the room is simply there to have a good time together.