Cut Copy + Holy Ghost! @ Club Soda

It was back in July 2008 when I had my first opportunity to see Cut Copy at the O2 Wireless Festival in London, England. This wandering Canadian tourist knew nothing of the Australian electro-pop group at the time, but I saw their records in almost every record shop I visited; In Ghost Colours, their second studio album (and one of my all-time favourites), had just been released that spring. One might rightly ask me how they were then, but unfortunately I cannot say; I foolishly passed them up to settle into my jet lag. Now, having admitted to that, I can proudly say that I finally got to see Cut Copy on their recent tour for Zonoscope - their third and newest album – playing to a sold out Club Soda on April 5th, 2011.

As the crowd came in and out of the venue to cool off after the amazing opening set from Brooklyn’s Holy Ghost!, it was hard to remain calm while waiting for Cut Copy to take the stage. The packed venue erupted as they stepped on stage and began with "Visions" and "Nobody Lost, Nobody Found" from In Ghost Colours. Once they had settled in and their presence was well received, leading member Dan Whitford introduced the band, acknowledged their absence from Montreal for the past three years and carried on to perform "Alisa" from Zonoscope.

One remarkable thing to note about the entirety of Cut Copy’s set that night was the balance between playing material from their new album and their previous releases. The band played six songs from both In Ghost Colours and Zonoscope, while playing only one - "Saturdays" – from Bright Like Neon Love, their first album from 2004. Not that I do not enjoy when groups play mostly new material, but anyone familiar enough with Cut Copy’s newest and second album knows about the groups obsession with long ambient type transitions between their songs. Cut Copy made the most of these during their performance and it was fantastic how they kept the crowd in anticipation of what they would play next, as well as the variety of songs they would play, switching from album to album throughout the night.

As for songs that stood out, two particularly captured me and I believe the crowd would have to agree. Although it was performed early in the night, "Corner of the Sky’" moved the crowd with its heavy synth-bass lines and three-person percussion work. The other was "Sun God", the fifteen-minute finale song from Zonoscope; it was the last song played by Cut Copy before their encore. Lead vocalist Dan Whitford busied himself with his modular synthesizers on the side, while lead guitarist Tim Hoey played with a variety of voice effects and took out everything on his guitar; he played it with a drum stick, swung it in the air, and shoved it into the crowd.

Overall, this show was completely amazing and it sold out for good reason… given the possibility, why would anybody want to miss these guys? So the next time Cut Copy is anywhere near you, don’t pass up seeing them for strawberries and cream, jet lag, or any reason. Hopefully it won’t be another three years before they come back to Montreal.

-Mason W hosts Midnight Love Affair on Sunday's from 11pm-12am