It’s always an enjoyable surprise when a synth-laden electro-pop band like Cut Copy can make studio magic translate into a sublime dance party on stage. The Aussie foursome demonstrated their strengths as entertainers and performers with a musical buoyancy that infused their show at Washington, DC’s Echostage with a palpable joy and energy. Entering amidst columns of fog, strobe lights and psychedelic projections, the band kicked off the show with “We Are Explorers,” from 2013’s Free Your Mind, and “Take Me Over” from 2011’s Zonoscope, two hits that lit up the crowd.
Cut Copy’s music is reminiscent of post-apocalyptic, sci-fi film scores of the 80’s. Think “Terminator” or “Blade Runner” — heavy on the synths, soaring melodies and pumping base. Yet, they avoid that cheesiness factor while retaining the danceability and richness of those compositions. Their performances are meant to get your body as actively engaged as your ears should be, and they do so with charming aplomb. Between their cheeky grins and their ceaseless on-stage movement, you can’t help but feel they’re enjoying themselves just as much as we were. When their hands weren’t on their instruments, they were outstretched to the audience, making those close to the front all the more animated during songs like “Heart’s On Fire,” with lyrics “with hearts on fire I reach out to you tonight” repeating.
Their set was notably short on dialogue or banter, aside from initial greetings and a thanks to their opening bands, Turkish Prison and Jessy Lanza. Lead vocalist/guitarist Tim Hoey did briefly interject towards the beginning that this was the second night of their American tour and that he’d come down with something bothering his throat and that he might need the audience’s help, which more than likely contributed to their seemingly short set. That said, they made up for concert’s slight brevity by keeping the energy high and the senses thoroughly stimulated throughout.
Though they’ve usually played the better known (and better accessible) 9:30 Club in the U Street Corridor of DC, they opted this time to perform at Echostage, known for it’s superior sound system and extensive lighting and projection capabilities. The energy of their live performance makes the next listen to their album tracks seem nearly tame, as one tries to imagine the stage show being bottled up in a studio. Their passion and energy are vibrantly apparent and left the audience in wild cheers throughout their last song, “Lights and Music,” before an encore of “Walking In The Sky” and “Need You Now.”
Cut Copy fed off the energy of the audience all evening, encouraging dancing and blissfully singing along, and they left the Washington, DC crowd exactly where a band should want them: happily wanting more.
SETLIST:
Explorers
Take Me Over
Free Your Mind
Where I’m Going
In Memory
So Haunted
Hearts on Fire
Feel The love
Out There On The Ice
Let Me Show You Love
Sun God
House Of Love
Lights and Music
Encore:
Walking In the
Need You Now
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