For almost the tenth time in about two years, honorary Perthians Cut Copy returned to the West for a couple of sold out shows at Capitol. The last time they were here was for V Festival just after they’d released In Ghost Colours to a salivating fan base. With the album healthily digested over the past 3 months since its March release, the band should have had ample time to sharpen their axes and samplers. The DFA connection has always played a part with Cut Copy and was further solidified through the label’s founder Tim Goldsworthy getting behind the boards for production duties on In Ghost Colours. Support duties tonight were being filled by two members of the ever-increasing DFA stable – one new and one old.
First on stage were new DFA signings New Zealand four-piece Shocking Pinks. Playing to a modest but steadily increasing crowd, the kids from across the Tasman sounded tight and funky. With musical styling’s ranging from Radiohead atmospheric rock, to punk funk that probably impressed James Murphy enough to sign them. Playing some older and newer tracks as well as some covers, the Pinks got some early groovers to the dancefloor which seemed to perk up the band a little too. Strong instrumentation was eminent throughout with cowbell to industrial bleeps and deep, rumbling bass to some sweet slap rhythms. Finishing up their last track just as He-Man was arriving by the power of Grayskull on the barside TVs, the Pinks put on a solid set that ensured it probably won’t be long until they’re back this way soon.
With the Datarock album played as filler between sets, no one was getting restless when New York disco punkers The Juan Maclean arrived on stage. With a proverbial mountain of gear packed on to stage, it certainly looked like it was going be an impressive set. Just to avoid any kind of confusion, The Juan Maclean is not just one man who plays four instruments at the one time, but a band with four members but the name of one. Confused? Me too. Anyway made up of an all-star group of musicians including LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang on vocals, Jerry Fuchs from !!! on drums and Nick Millhiser from Holy Ghost! on the electronic allsorts. Starting out with some funk-house, the band was producing a great sound for a live show which was great to here as sometimes live dance acts just don’t seem to be able to replicate their sound live. A particular highlight was group founder John Maclean getting busy with a laser harp, made famous by Jean Michael Jarre during his live shows. Making all sorts of crazy noises, it certainly held people’s attention as it is certainly an instrument you do not see every night. With a penchant for extended track lengths, The Juan Mac didn’t get through many tracks in their forty minute set but finishing off with Give Me Every Little Thing from their debut LP Less Than Human and this year’s piano house epic Happy House, the crowd was really starting to get moving. An extremely groovy and dancey set by the New Yorkers and with their second album going to ‘have a more live sound’, one can imagine that the Juan Maclean will become a lot more of a household name.
The stage was set for the four lads from Melbourne to be welcomed like old friends to the Capitol Stage. Frontman Dan Whitford was affable as ever and asked the crowd his trademark “Are you ready to party Perth?”. Something about him says that even though he is a rockstar, he would definitely be the kind of boy you could introduce quite comfortably to your Grandma and her friends. Kicking things off with the instrumental Visions from their most recent LP, the crowd surged forward as the band launched into the upbeat and thoroughly eighties Nobody Lost, Nobody Found. The many spotlights were out in force for the first couple of songs which complimented the tracks perfectly, building up a fair amount of anticipation for the crowd favourites. The first of these was So Haunted, with its strained and angst-ridden guitar opening, it’s probably the band’s most rock moment, until the blissful breakdown leading into the synth-washed end section that never lasts long enough.
Next up was the timeless Time Stands Still from 2004 LP Bright Like Neon Love in which the simple synthline still sounds so effective with the crowd singing every word. Running through a relatively even mixture of old and new material, the boys really start to hit their straps when bassist Ben Browning was introduced to the crowd and some impressive slo-mo visuals of a person holding a flair kickstarted Out There On The Ice, which was quickly followed by most recent single Lights & Music which had reversed visuals of a woman painting her face. Wrapping things up with last year’s smash Hearts on Fire (which incidentally is about to be re-released), the lads left the stage to an adoring audience ovation.
Returning for a brief encore that was made up of In Ghost Colours opener Feel the Love and fan favourite Saturdays, the show really emphasised the high regard in which Cut Copy are held in Perth; even with the recent saturation of live shows they have played throughout the past couple of years.
