Cut Copy at The Tivoli

Cut Copy

It was a night that had it all: drinks, drugs, fighting, guys mopping up their own blood, girls mopping up their own blood, police cars and ambulances outside at the end of the night… And somewhere in the midst of all that Cut Copy played a gig to a sell out Tivoli crowd.

The night started early with NZ band Shocking Pinks playing to a tiny and mostly disinterested crowd. The room was more than empty enough for ironic, theatrical dancing from a small group to their very 1990 shoegazing sound. The band also played in near darkness, with only a couple of spot lights at the back of the stage.

Shocking Pinks

It’s annoying when you turn up early to check out support bands and you end up with the feeling that they’re not being given much of chance to impress. Whilst people are generally playing for the headline act and, as a result, they are rightly given more time to soundcheck and generally have better sound and a more impressive light show, you sometimes get the feeling that there is almost an element of sabotage to ensure that there is no way that the support acts could ever upstage the headliners.

Whilst the ever increasing price of drinking at gigs is probably taking away from people wanting to get to venues early (for example, the obscene $11 that The Tivoli is now charging for a bottle of Smirnoff Black), I always try to get there to check out the support bands – you never when you might discover something really good or where they might end up a few years down the line. Down the years, support bands I’ve seen have included Radiohead (twice), Tool, Soundgarden, Faith No More, You Am I, Travis, Wolfmother, Primus, and Mercury Rev to name a few.

“The” Juan Maclean were the main support band. For a band playing “happy house” dance music with Theremin and cowbell they were distinctly motionless and seemingly uninterested in trying to engage with the audience. They also played in near darkness, with my photos being so rubbish that there’s nothing I’d really want to put up for public viewing.

I saw Cut Copy at the V Festival earlier in the year, albeit from a distance, and thought they sounded like New Order. Seeing them close up they still sound like New Order. Their latest album, In Ghost Colours, has been garnering rave reviews from the likes of DiS and Pitchfork, although having heard a number of songs I can’t work out why; it’s OK and fairly harmless stuff but just not THAT good.

Live, they put on a really good show. The sound and lights were great (although I ended up disappointed with the shots I got of them overall; lots of back light, not enough from the front) and they really connected with the audience. As such, it was strange that the night ended up with all the aggro and bloodshed.

Cut Copy

Cut Copy

Cut Copy

Some more photos on Flickr.

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