Live Review: Say Anything, The Getaway Plan, The Mission In Motion

All three bands at the Hi-Fi on Saturday were plagued by a mix that was so bottom heavy you could barely hear any guitars. This was even the case for headliners Say Anything who, at times, had three guitarists playing their hearts out across the front. Instead, the night was dominated by the rumble and shudder of the bass and drums.

With such an early doors open time, The Mission In Motion had to work hard to get the crowd involved. Singer Brett Islaub was a very energetic focal point for the band and with his coaxing, by the end the audience had raised their voices to join in on New Skin.

The Getaway Plan's sound improved marginally, but it was still a struggle to hear Matthew Wright's vocals. Despite this, there were some pretty epic moments and audience favourite, Where The City Meets The Sea, was a clear highlight of the set.

This was Say Anything's first headline visit to Australia and when a bearded frontman Max Bemis walked out onto the Hi-Fi stage, sound issues were rendered irrelevant. The Sydney crowd had clearly been waiting for this night for quite some time (Say Anything have been together over a decade) and right from the opening strains of Spidersong, Bemis had the loud audience in the palm of his hand.

The creative force behind Say Anything, Bemis worked incredibly hard shimmying his way around the stage and songs like Shiksa (Girlfriend), Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too, In Defense Of The Genre and set closer, Alive With The Glory Of Love, were played with a frantic energy by every member of the six-piece band. And that energy was channelled straight back by the die-hards down the front.

But considering patrons had paid more than $50 for the privilege of seeing the American headliners, surely it shouldn't be too much to expect the sound person to be able to allow the audience to hear clearly the singer and the hard-working guitarists of all three bands.

Flick through more pics from the night here!