 
Touring behind 2004’s Bright Like Neon Love, Cut Copy singer Dan Whitford occasionally got frustrated with American audiences’ reluctance to dance at shows, despite the band’s booty-shaking rhythms and New Order-worthy bass lines. In other countries, he would point out in his charming-as-hell Australian accent, people let loose – but in America everyone just stands there and stares at the band.
Several years later, it seems that US audiences are loosening up a little, or perhaps the band’s fans are just getting good at following instructions. Several times at the tightly packed Trocadero show, Whitford helpfully pointed out that “this is the point for everyone to go crazy” and the crowd dutifully obeyed, jumping in unison to “Saturdays” or “Hearts on Fire.”
If going crazy on cue is a contradiction in terms, it is at least better than the contradiction the band found themselves in after the release of Bright Like Neon Love, being an incredibly accessible and compelling band who received almost zero press or audience attention. Opening for Franz Ferdinand got Cut Copy a small following, which grew after the release of this year’s excellent In Ghost Colours.
Then and now, Cut Copy is still the ideal CD-mix band – someone few people have heard of but whom everyone will like. This isn’t to make them sound vacuous – like the best of the newer electronic bands and the Depeche Mode albums from which they draw inspiration, there’s a hint of darkness in those melodies. It only makes clear what the eventually sweaty crowd at the Trocadero already knew – that hooks like these can make you forget your own inhibited instincts.
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