Amplifier Bar

Very rude door staff and expensive drinks. Probably not a place you’d take someone to on their first night out.

Amplifier is one of my favourite bars for hanging with friends and listening to the live music. The crowd is great and so are the bar staff. I had a great time on Friday until I was wrongly accused by a female security/​bouncer for falling asleep in the bathrooms. It’s hard when you have been drinking to prove your innocence and unfortunately she did not want to hear about it. Really disappointing to have experienced this and have identities mixed up. The beats that night were far too good to have a kip!

Things I love:
— The music is always good and not like every other club in Perth
— I love the indoor/​outdoor venue
— Its huge
— Heaps of great bands there
— You can get in through amps or capitol as they are joined
Things I don’t love:
— The lines are crazy huge
— The costs up to $ 15 to get in (that’s 2 drinks) !
— The toilets are gross
Way more loves then don’t loves but the line and cost is very frustrating!

The sound is overly loud, most the ‘better’ bands play next door at the Capitol, which almost defeats the purpose of the place, especially when there are two gigs on at once

An old favourite. I’ve been going here for years and while my visits now are less frequent it’s still an ideal place for a dance! And if you want to stay out all night with great tunes and an ecletic crowd, this is the place.
The most annoying thing is the excessive queue and last time I went they upped their cover charge to $ 15…that’s a bit steep.
As a live music venue, it’s ideal. When it gets too hot and crazy in there you can take a break in the beer garden and still hear everything!
Ahhh, so many fun and memorable nights in this place and will probably have a few more still.

Amps is one of the best places in Perth for a bit of a boogey and a surplus of booze. Hands down. It draws a young crowd from all over Perth, but you’re unlikely to find a testosterone fueled dance floor within. Chances are, if you’re a subscriber to RTRFM or have Triple J programmed on your car radio, you probably call this place your after hours head quarters. Unlike a lot of bars in Perth, Amps does not deceive with a too-​cool-​for-​you décor and then fail to deliver with the entertainment. The place has character. The first time I went there, I was accosted by a young fellow in a red leotard who asked me to poke his pecks. Never a dull moment…
It’s a fairly industrial interior, with a large beer garden and a mixture of characters and music to keep you entertained into the wee hours of the morning. There’s always a cover charge, but for a bar that’s actually open past midnight in Perth (heavens to Betsy!), $ 10 is completely reasonable IMHO.

I really like Amps.
The back alley entrance, the open beer garden-​like space, the indie/​hipster crowd and in particular the epic tunes.
A great venue for gigs with its stage over the dance floor the tunes for the most part are like the best of Triple J mixed with Blalocks Indie Rock Playlist. As the night winds down in the wee hours the vibe goes straight retro with classic 80s and 90s tracks giving you the best distraction from the fact the sun is about to come up.
Amps also opens up into Capitol next door which is a whole different kettle of fish.
You wont find a heaving dance floor here, but you will see some cool cats listening to some epic music. More than worth the $ 15 cover.

A friend of mine once described the Amplifier bar as a dungeon with a few indie/​hipster people in it and this is not far from the truth and that is why it’s so awesome! What a refreshing place to go after being saturated in the usual tween testosterone that most places in Northbridge provide. If I had to guess I’d say that most of the people who in inhabit Amps are vegan and we all know vegan’s are peace makers. This provides a loose and non threatening atmosphere with some thoroughly interesting conversations.
Another positive is that it is directly connected to Capitol so it makes for an easy transition if you want to get your dub-​step/​club dance on. The one negative about the Amps/​Caps relationship is that it has a pretty steep $ 15 cover. Also it should be warned that neither places are everyones cup of tea and one should enter with an open mind!

It’s pretty hipster; the music, the people, the gigs and that slightly dingy and grimy appearance. It’s also pretty much always a good time in my experience.
The music is really good; a lot of Indie dance and rock, with a healthy dose of cult-​classic 80s and 90s, that very rarely verge on cheesey. I’ve probably had some of my greatest d-​floor moments at Amps in fact.
What would make me like it better is some more aesthetically pleasing surrounds and perhaps a comfortable place to lounge on, but then that wouldn’t be Amps. It’s really about that rough-​hewn, London, underground thing.

Amps is a Perth standard these days. What started years ago as a Punk club, and I’m sure my father could tell you was something else before that, is still a pretty sweet place to go for lovers of the «alternative», if you will.
While we see alternative culture seeping into the mainstream these days, Amplifier Bar lies somewhere in the middle. A popular venue for rock/​metal gigs, as well as everything in between, Amps draws a pretty eclectic crowd, but hey, variety is the spice of life right?
The dance floor is always full on weekends, and they’ve even started a Dubstep specific night on Wednesdays which is cheap entry ($ 5) and a whole lot of mid week fun.
Good times, awesome staff and a smoking area that means you don’t have to leave the bar and line up again. I’m sold.

I have been to Amplifier or «Amps» 3 times now and each time, I have paid the $ 15 — $ 20 entry fee only to leave after less than an hour. I get talked into coming to Amps by a group of friends from school who I don’t have a whole lot in common with. I know we definitely don’t have music taste in common because they seem to love the live local bands at Amps while I seem to be the only one hearing a stage full of people who can’t play their instruments. I think Amps is a scene — you go here looking like a hipster who’s borrowed their nanna’s ‘vintage’ wardrobe just to thrash around to the band all your friends think is local and thereby cool.
Not the place for me at all and will not be dragged along ever again.

Amps is a place that is a regular holder of live gigs, from local, national and international artists. As a live venue, it is not bad, with enough space to fit a decent-​sized crowd who are wanting to be close to the band, or for sparser crowds to dance.
Amps has three sections. There is the front section, with tables, chairs and pool tables, and has its own bar. There is the courtyard for those wanting some air or for smokers, and then there is the stage area, serviced with its own bar.
The stage has a good height, meaning that it is easy to obtain a nice view of the band from most angles. The sound is very good, with a nice balance of levels.
Amps can also be rather warm, as there seems to be a weak air-​conditioning unit operating in the stage area. Aside from that, Amps is a good live venue, due to its location and sound.

Amplifier is recognised to those who live in Perth as the familiar place to go. If you are after a guaranteed good night out, and not feeling so adventurous, this is where you fall. During the week Amps provides different DJ sets, and on Fridays and Saturdays there are usually popular Australian or International bands playing. Doors will open around 8pm for these shows, however the support bands won’t start up until around 9.30pm-10pm and then the main act will arrive on the stage about 11pm. Generally you can pre-​buy these tickets, otherwise you can pay at the door.
Even if a gig is on though you can still go in and enjoy the club as it has two separate rooms, the gig will be inside on the stage and then there is an al fresco with brick walls, a view of the city’s skyline above and a view of the stars while you play pool or sit on a couch with a drink. Queues for the club can be quite large though so I’d suggest either getting there a bit earlier around 9pm or after 11pm. However, if you’re prepared I’ve waited in line for half an hour and with a good group of friends time passes quickly. Entry is usually between $ 10-​$ 20 however once you’re in, after 12pm you can move between Amplifier and Capitol, which is an adjoining club. This is especially handy if you’re going out with a group of friends who have different tastes in music, you can split up to dance and meet up later, and everybody has had an enjoyable night.
Amplifier is a great spot for having some different music to dance to, various indie, rock music from decades ago to recently are mixed in, with the likes of Arctic Monkeys to The Monkeys and Arcade Fire to Friendly Fires. While during a gig the venue can get quite packed, after when everybody clears out, you find yourself with plenty of enjoyable dancing room. Amps is a good place for a night out, it has a pretty laidback atmosphere and people are excited when they hear the music they love.

If you love alternative 80s and 90s music like me, then you are guaranteed to take part in some serious dancing at Amps. Way back when, before Northbridge was revitalised and even before Republic had opened, Amps was pretty much the only bar in town one could dance like Morrissey to New Order songs till the wee hours of the morning. Years later there’s more than one place for all the hipsters in Perth to go, the Amps dj is playing the same songs but the place draws even more of a crowd than ever. There’s bands on early in the evening, some you have to pre-​buy tickets for. The dj comes on around 11 or midnight. Time your arrival well, the line nowadays is over 100 metres long if you get there between 10pm-​1am.