Live Review: Anberlin, The Getaway Plan, The Breakaway

On paper Anberlin never looked like a band that would last over ten years and get to go out with one last triumphant Australian tour, called on their own terms. The Florida band were never flashy, never had a hit single or that one breakthrough album.

Instead they worked hard, put on a consistently great live show and kept coming back, winning new fans on every one of their nine tours here. This final Sydney show was a celebration of the respect and loyalty Anberlin have built up over the years.

As first band up, The Breakaway suffered the Roundhouse’s notoriously bad sound, and though they went through all the right motions, their set never really felt like it clicked.

The Getaway Plan have always managed to blend addictive pop hooks into their heavier foundations and the crowd seemed pretty happy to hear singer Matthew Wright talk about the new album the band are crowdfunding.

But this was never anything but Anberlin’s night. Beginning with the rousing Paperthin Hymn and stacking the front of the set with some of the band’s most energetic material, including early fan favourite Never Take Friendship Personal, frontman Stephen Christian whipped the crowd up with every exaggerated hand gesture and giddy bounce, and by stretching notes out into seemingly impossible snapshots of time. About halfway through the set the celebratory mood turned into something a little more nostalgic with (The Symphony Of) Blasé and its chorus, “This is our last goodbye.”

Of course we got to hear Adelaide, a song written to acknowledge just how much love Australian crowds have always shown the band, while Feel Good Drag rounded out an extended set finishing with Christian, arms and legs flailing surfing over the top of the crowd.

By the time (*Fin)’s tender chorus provided the encore with its emotional punch, the feeling in the room was heavy and wistful but Anberlin are going out the way most bands can only dream of, with a room full of fans screaming back at them as they ripped through a fiery live set.