Cut Copy and Paste Yourself into a Rocking Concert

Major holidays, as a general rule, make it tough to fill a concert venue. Mondays are also tough. When the two happen to align, you can pretty much guarantee a subdued set.

One of the exceptions to this rule is St. Patrick’s Day, and at the Mercury Lounge on March 17, Cut Copy reaped the benefits of the one holiday that condones drinking from noon to 4 a.m. A large percentage of attendees were already intoxicated by the time they reached Houston Street, and made use of both of the venue’s bars throughout the evening—with the effect that by the time Aussie trio Cut Copy hit the stage, preceded by three openers (Holy Ghost, El Guincho, and The Fashion), most of the flannel-shirt- and skinny-jean-sporting crowd was wasted and ready to fucking dance.

Given the mood, it’s a good thing that Cut Copy’s music isn’t especially challenging. The group’s better-known songs, “Going Nowhere,” “Saturdays,” and “Hearts on Fire,” all follow pretty simple rhythmic structures, backed up by peppy synth and repetitive lyrics—in other words, indie dance-pop heaven. The delivery of these fan favorites didn’t disappoint—in effect, they sounded almost exactly like they do on Bright Like Neon Love, which is exactly what the audience wanted.

The one novel aspect of the performance was the band’s energy. Frontman Dan Whitford, along with cohorts Tim Hoey and Mitchell Scott, fed off unequivocally positive vibes from the crowd—the likes of which can only be engendered by inebriation. All three members’ boppy, spirited concentration helped them out when it came to maintaining audience interest in songs the band played from its sophomore release, In Ghost Colours—which wasn’t available until March 22, five days later. That the set didn’t fall flat during these songs can probably be attributed equally to energy, alcohol, and the wonders of the Internet—by the day of the show, In Ghost Colours was available in its entirety to stream on the band’s MySpace (still is, by the way), and the first single, “Lights and Music,” had been online for two months already. That’s years in indie-pop time, where singles have a shelf life of roughly as long as it takes to listen to them a couple of times. Nonetheless, this one’s catchy enough that fans cheered as soon as they recognized the beat.

Whitford in particular displayed a fondness for overdramatic stage physicality. During a couple of the songs, he extended his arms to the audience as though imploring them to commune with him. By the time they came out for their encore, Whitford vocalized the same. “This is your last chance,” he said by way of introduction to the last song. “Go crazy.” And the audience, inhibitions a distant memory, was only too happy to oblige.