On an icy Canberra night Melbourne’s The Getaway Plan hit Canberra to play to an all ages crowd at Albert Hall. Along for the ride were fellow Melbourne boys Closure in Moscow and New Zealander’s Goodnight Nurse. The stage was set for a night of under-age shenanigans with Mum and Dad dropping the kids off at Albert Hall with strict instructions to ‘text me when the concert finishes ok’.

This reviewer made a minor oversight by popping into the Hyatt for a quick drink instead of getting to Albert Hall on time. The major oversight of course was that ‘on time’ would have meant arriving at 6.30pm rather than the stock standard 8pm start. This resulted in catching only the very end of New Zealand pop punk kids Goodnight Nurse. It should however be noted that plenty members of the young crowd were still mooching outside too.

An early and unexpected highlight of the night was discovering that Albert Hall, home of cheap rug and ‘designer’ clothes sales was actually a perfect venue to see a band. It’s a crying shame this beautiful old hall isn’t used more often as a music venue.

Forgiving and forgetting my tardiness, the clear highlight and reason the teen crowd bothered to get out on this freezing night was to see headliners The Getaway Plan. After quite a delay in setting up the stage the band exploded onto stage with a grand entrance to the orchestral Carmina Burana. This also doubled as the signal to all the kids hanging outside smoking to get inside as the band was ‘like about to start’.

These young Melbourne talents did not disappoint. Playing a stellar 12 track set lasting just over an hour they played a mix from their debut LP Other Voices, Other Rooms including Spindles and Shadows as well as pleasing the crowd with some of their older material. Playing radio hit Streetlight early on the fans were going crazy; singing, dancing, jumping, with even a little mild crowd surfing observed up the front. Frontman Matthew Wright thanked the crowd for ‘coming out on this freezing Canberra night’ as the band continued to deliver hit after hit entertaining the almost exclusively under age crowd.

Mid-set an extended intro lost the interest of the fickle crowd as they quickly turned to texting or talking but the youthful rockers quickly picked up the tempo and once more fans were screaming and dancing to tracks If the Suspense Doesn’t Kill Us and The New Year. Matthew Wright continued to mix things up on keys with short intros and different arrangements to the recorded material which was quite pleasing.

Finally it was time for Where the City Meets the Sea and as expected the crowd once again went crazy. This time the ample security entourage put an end to the mild crowd surfing almost immediately (Mum and Dad would be pleased). The boys came back for a one song encore by necessity from the demanding crowd, concluding their set with the wonderful Rhapsody on a Windy Night. This brought the night and the screaming girls to an end at a very sensible 10pm.

The Getaway Plan played a superb set thrilling the kids and even some of the ‘older folk’ present with some clever timing providing this school holiday treat to the appreciative young Canberran’s. These young Melbourne boys are definitely one of the Australian bands to watch in 2008.