The Getaway Plan, TonightAlive, Secrets In Scale @ TheHiFi (12/02/2011)

Mon 14th Feb, 2011 in Gig Reviews

How many times have you gone to show and had your ears ring? Heaps, I bet. How many times can you say it was the deafening shrieks of several hundred female audience members that did it to you? The sheer enthusiasm of audience members affirms tonight that The Getaway Plan reforming was certainly for the best. How hard will they need to work to restore their hype to the levels seen in 2008-2009? Well, turns out they don’t need to work hard at all; the breakup and subsequent reformation has done nothing to stop the wheels turning.

Secrets in Scale clearly must have been huge fans of Circa Survive’s Blue Sky Noise, because it seems as if they’re recycling the album’s B-sides for tonight’s performance. There’s elements of The Mars Volta and Closure In Moscow but sadly, none of it is very interesting. The set has a few moments, but those moments are fleeting. Not even a guest appearance by Matt Wright can inject any spark and neither can the drum solo performed by vocalist David McGuire. The rest of the band has slithered away at this point. Kudos for the Mexican moustache, though.

Nowadays, any time a female fronts a pop punk band there’s almost a certainty that connections will be drawn between said band and Paramore. Tonights said band is Tonight Alive and whilst other bands are ill-deserving of the label of “Paramore ripoff” no amount of power chords and guitar flips will break this comparison. Jenna McDougall’s bad girl schtick really begins to crumble when fa defiant middle finger is backed by a cringe-worthy stage presence. If she dyed her hair red and lost some skin pigmentation they’d make a passable tribute band. Despite being so limp and derivative, they do manage to start up a feeble circle pit. However, the dudes who are responsible for this also try to start a Mexican wave later on in the night.

A lot of questions are raised as to how the split in early 2009 and subsequent reformation affected The Getaway Plan. Will the performances be better or worse? Will there be stylistic changes and new songs? Has their fanbase lost touch with the band? Judging from the huge cheer that greets them on stage and how they lose their shit over Streetlight the answer to this last question is an overwhelming no.

There appears to be no tension or awkwardness between them. In fact, apart from Aaron Barnett’s new set of drums you’d be hard pressed to believe they even went on hiatus. Matt Wright serenades the audience with effervescence; Clint Owen Ellis delivers his etherial counter melodies with his face obscured beneath his mass of brown hair; and Barnett performs an array of twirls with his sticks. The cooling off period has certainly injected new life into the band.

Other Voices, Other Rooms is played in entirety, but not in order. It’s already curious to notice a sense of timelessness developing in their songs. Lets not forget it’s been three years since a studio outing and the songs still remain fresh in the minds of fans. They recite the apocalyptic lyrics of Shadows as if it were freshly pressed. When the band delves into the slower sections of their back catalogue such as New Medicine and A Lover’s Complaint tiny lights illuminate on the backdrop creating a wall of twinkling stars in the night sky.

There would have been a feeling of dissatisfaction if they had merely played their old songs. The new tracks sound promising but they require repeat listens to pass judgement. Jenna McDougall joins wright on a track called Child of Light. These acoustic numbers show that the pages have closed on their screamo beginnings. Pop is now their way forward.

Where The City Meets The Sea is the obvious choice to round out the set and the fans couldn’t be happier. Rhapsody On A Windy Night and Transmission make up the encore. The latter is a questionable decision as a track from Hold Conversation would have been more appealing.

It’s clear that this reformation was for the best. The four members of The Getaway Plan have some chemistry that only clicks when they’re all in the same band. Their endeavours with The Amity Affliction, Young Heretics and Deez Nuts resulted in lacklustre efforts. If tonights performance was an indication of whats in store in the future, I simply say two words: welcome back.