On Monday July 28, the Canadian quartet Wine Lips closed out their European tour in Amsterdam. In honor of the release of their Super Mega Ultra record last year, they stopped by in the tiny country the Netherlands for a total of three times on this tour, clearly having a soft spot for the Dutch crowds.
The evening starts out with the psych-rock duo Earth Tongue from New Zealand. The floor is slowly filling up during their somewhat disorientating songs. With just drummer Ezra Simons and guitarist Gussie Larkin on the stage, you’d not expect the music to feel the music hit so hard, the saying ‘less is more’ ringing true for this band.
Looking around before the headlining band starts, you wouldn’t expect too rough a crowd, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s a lot of very cool looking people around, reflected in the sunglasses everyone in Wine Lips is wearing. The four piece is led by the red rimmed sunnies of vocalist Cam Hilborn, and their effortlessly cool attitudes match the crowd well. It takes approximately 30 seconds before the moshing starts, and it doesn’t end until the very last notes.
Every crowdsurfer is being held up high (including guitarist Andrew Donofrio), the moshing continuing throughout the entire show’s duration (with one for just the women during “Six Pack,” with drummer Aurora Evans on vocals), and there’s hardly any phones out. Everyone is just completely lost in the music and dancing their hearts out, and it shows in the passion the band radiates back at them. The high energy garage rock doesn’t let anyone slow it down for even a minute, everyone in the Melkweg OZ clearly going all out for the last show of tour.
Monday’s show had no frills, no unnecessary stage builds or dramatics, just pure, unadulterated punk music and a crowd that completely understood the assignment. The Canadian band will come back to the UK in October, and has a following Canada/USA tour in November.
GALLERY: Wine Lips with Earth Tongue at Melkweg in Amsterdam, Netherlands (July 28, 2025)
