Cut Copy

It’s a cold night in June and all the skinny and moderately attractive kids of Brisbane have gathered to stand around, look hip and nod their heads to their latest musical heroes, Cut Copy. The Shocking Pinks from NZ kick off proceedings tonight with their brooding, electro/punk-esque sounds. It’s always a tough gig to be the first band on when no one is there for you etc, etc, but to be fair, The Shocking Pinks are pretty good. The drunk guy in the fluro shirt at the piss trough summed them up pretty well. ’They were alright…but by the end I just wanted them to f*&k off….whoo-hoo, cut copy f*&king rule!...’. Or something like that, which, in the context of the gig, is actually a compliment.

The Juan Macleans from the USA follow up and do their best to try and get the uninterested masses to move. No one really does. Maybe it is because the male instrumentalist/vocalist sounds like that guy from the Swedish band ‘Aqua’? You know… the ones that did that ‘barbie girl’ song? Anyone? Anyway, until the last track they are about as engaging as a plank of wood, which may explain everyone’s lack of interest. They are certainly not bad by any stretch of the imagination and their female vocalist Nancy is a bit of a star, so I feel a certain pang of pity for them trying to wow a crowd who are there for only one reason.

The four members of Cut Copy hit the stage in all their skinny nerdiness and the crowd are instantly in love with their floppy fringes and their sounds that are as trendy as a headband on an 18 year old. From the opening track Future, Cut Copy have the crowd jumping and shuffling as only a group of upper middle class trendy people can. Cut Copy’s latest album, In Ghost Colours, has a swagger of hits on it and it is only appropriate that their show should be track after track of hand-clapping, electro charged ear candy. Lots of ‘Brisbane….are you ready to go f**king crazy??’ banter mid-song only contributes to the fever pitch inside the venue and the whole crowd heaves as one, particularly through their more well known singles, Lights and Music and Hearts on Fire. The definition of a band in full flight is on stage tonight.

Technically, the sound mix is perfect, although, let’s face it, with a band riding as high as these lads are right now, who would have really noticed? Well, me for one, but there are so many people jumping and dancing with huge smiles on their dials that a few hiccups would have been forgiven. But there simply aren’t any hiccups. The show is so tight it boggles the mind that they weren’t just playing us their CD really, really loud. And I mean that in a good way. My personal favourites were the irresistible Unforgettable Season and the guitar driven So Haunted which hummed and buzzed along at a frenetic pace. They may have a sound that borrows heavily from the eighties but this is no nostalgic trip. From start to finish everyone is here to worship at the church of Cut Copy, and if you arrived a non-believer you certainly left a convert. Can I get an amen for bands that release good albums and cement their status with engaging live shows? Amen, indeed.

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