Cut Copy, Riviera Theater, Chicago, Illinois

Once again at the Riviera, we arrived early and were able to secure a good spot behind a raised railing so that the shorter member of our group could still see well. In doing so we had to suffer through one of the worst opening act that I have ever seen. It was comically terrible. His set included a song about being a sexy toddler, enough said.

Australian synthpop band Cut Copy got a late start, a bit after 10pm. For those of us with day jobs, that’s never appreciated. The light spectacle they had put together was quite impressive, even if a tad too bright, so I was glad to have a proper vantage point to enjoy it. However, the sound quality at the start of their set was a bit off. The mids were drowned out by heavy bass and lead vocalist Dan Whitford’s voice. On top of that, I suspect that there’s quite a bit of voice effects used on their albums and even during their live performances. However, it sounded as they hadn’t yet kicked in, so his voice sounded irregular and a bit off. Fortunately, they seemed to fix the problem pretty quickly. Guitar, bass, drums, synths, and voice were again in harmony.

Their show included a good mix of songs from all their albums, stretching all the way back to a pair of songs from their lesser known debut album Bright Like Neon Love (2004) in the middle of their set. They jumped around the catalogue from their three most recent albums, including half a dozen songs from their break out album, In Ghost Colours (2008), a trio from Zonoscope (2011), and a further five from their most recent, Free Your Mind (2013).

Considering the type of music, the crowd wasn’t as hyper as I thought it would be. The energy seemed to ebb and flow with the tide of their biggest hits. When they wrapped up their encore with “Light and Music” around 11:30pm, the whole theatre went pretty nuts. I was impressed by the degree to which fans seemed to know the lyrics to even their newest songs, considering the album was released only eight days prior.

Setlist:
Free Your Mind
Where I'm Going
Feel the Love
In Memory Capsule

So Haunted
Hearts on Fire
That Was Just a Dream
Zap Zap
Strangers in the Wind
Take Me Over
Out There on the Ice
Let Me Show You Love
We Are Explorers
Need You Now
Encore:
Meet Me in the House of Love
Lights and Music