Emphasis On the "Cut"

Despite weeks of anticipation after which Cut Copy was announced to be playing one of Williamsburg Waterfront's All Saints Jelly pool parties, I walked away from this past Sunday's show fairly disappointed. Much of my disappointment lies in the fact that their setlist focused entirely on their previous release, In Ghost Colours, and ignoring their brilliant Bright Like Neon Love (don't you just love that title? It's one of my favorites!) and some songs from their upcoming album. I managed to take a picture of Cut Copy's setlist before their show started. Actually, they had two setlists, one listing BLNL's "That Was Just a Dream" and one without. So they were at least considering playing their old stuff.

I had the privilege of seeing Cut Copy perform at Studio B a couple of years ago, not long before In Ghost Colours came out. It's a really small venue (does it still exist? I read that its owners put it up on the market) which made it easy to see what energetic performers they were and how contagious that energy was. One of the best concert moments I've had was bouncing around while they played "Zap Zap." Everybody was just bugging out. It's always so much fun to see guitarist Tim Hoey spaz out on his guitar (and the spaz was back in fine form at Jelly); the song is so great, you just lose control.

I hate to think that I'm becoming one of those concert-goers who complains about an artist selling out because they no longer play their older catalogue and instead choose to only perform their newer, more commercial songs. But I did notice a difference in Cut Copy's performance from their Studio B appearance and their Jelly show. And yeah, I expect to see a difference, seeing as that was several years and albums ago, and they're more grown up and experienced, having worked with DFA producers and just coming off a giant Lollapalooza performance this past Saturday. But they seemed much more controlled this time around. Frontman Dan Whitford doesn't have much of  a singing voice. It's quite monotonous, which kind of works with their electronic melodies. But at Jelly, he came off as rather robotic, wearing a button-up shirt and a pair of slacks which seemed fairly ridiculous for an concert advertised as A POOL PARTY. His onstage gestures to try to inspire the crowd just seemed stiff and he did have moments where he got away from himself and lost in the music towards the end-- he even attempted jumping into the audience, but the microphone just got all feedback-y and he had to be rescued by a roadie. Awkward.-- but it seems Cut Copy's lost its sense of fun. At least I can still count on Tim and his spazziness.