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After calling it quits in February 2009, Melbourne rockers The Getaway Plan almost immediately started planning their final tour. With shows selling out fast and new shows having to be added and support acts as big as The Amity Affliction and Elora Danan along for the ride, it was obvious that this tour would be everything but disappointing.

With a legion of fans lining the streets of West End in Brisbane, Elora Danan wasted no time and started to play what would be one of their last shows ever on the East Coast. When announcing the band;s unexpected break up in late May 2009, Elora Danan also announced that the string of East Coast shows that they will be playing with The Getaway Plan would also be their last East Coast shows ever. They played with passion and excitement; even with the crowd only just warming up they kept the mood going. The sound was clean and the melody echoed through the room and spilled out to those queuing in the street. Playing songs from both their EP We All Have Secrets and their debut album In the Room up There they kept the crowds gaze, with heads bopping and feet tapping. With the crowd now warmed up, front man George Green thanked everybody and announced the last song. As soon as the first chord was struck everyone surged forward, realizing that this would probably be the last time they would get to see Elora Danan play again. It’s hard to keep the energy going with a room full of still bodies, but it didn’t seem to bother these boys – it just urged them to play harder.

Brisbane’s own The Amity Affliction came rip-roaring onto the stage, guitars blasting, crowd screaming and the powerful commanding voice of lead vocalist Joel Birch, far from the soulful rock ballads of Elora Danan. Playing songs new and old, Amity’s crowd was hard to contain. Crowd surfing and circle pits are probably the bare minimum that you would expect to see of The Amity Affliction’s fans trying to match the energy exerted by the boys on-stage personas. The quality of sound was consistent throughout the evening, but was almost drowned out by excited fans screaming back lyrics.

The Getaway Plan made quite an entrance, the crowd seeming like a pack of wild animals when guitarist Clint Splattering walked onto the stage. Followed by drummer Aaron Barnett, bassist Dave Anderson and front man Mathew Wright they kicked off with their first single Streetlight off their debut album Other Voices, Other Rooms. Everyone soon forgot that this would be the last time that they would see this awesome foursome playing together.

It was an atmosphere unlike any other; everyone knew all the words, they were all jumping in unison and all were there for the same reason. Playing an array of old and new songs such as If the Suspense Doesn’t Kill us…, The New Year, New Medicine, Sleep Spindles, Red Flag and A Lover’s Complaint there was not a person standing still in sight. It was easy to tell how comfortable the band was when playing in front of such an uncontrollable audience, their obvious enjoyment a precusor to how much we expect they will miss it when the time comes to actually go their separate ways.

As soon as The Getaway Plan left the stage people were demanding an encore, two minutes went by, then on came Splattering and Wright playing the first song ever written by the Getaway Plan Strings followed up by Barnett and Anderson joining the two onstage to play their most successful single “Where the City Meets the Sea”. This was met by the crowd with great enthusiasm.
It’s safe to say that The Getaway Plan will be missed dearly by their fans.