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It was an Australian electronic spectacular on Friday at the 9:30 Club, with Melbourne's Cut Copy and Sydney's The Presets taking the stage, along with Heartbreak from London. The crowd was sold out and in a dancing mood, and the bands served them well.
The Presets, a duo, had probably the best sound set-up we've ever experienced, with crisp vocals, loud instruments and samples, and booming bass that could make your hair shake even when standing at the bar. It was loud but never painful, a nice respite from those shows that make you wince.
The band, made up of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes, were not the usual knob-twisters, with Hamilton dancing from keyboard to microphone in a pink jacket. The light show amplified the giant dance club effect, and the crowd ate it up. Musically, the band plays somewhat sinister-sounding electronica with hints of industrial, such as "This Boy's in Love" from the fittingly named new album Apocalypso. Hamilton sings with vaguely 80s-goth vocals and there's a lot of call and response — "My People," for one, got the crowd pogoing and yelling along. Hamilton's vocals are a little affected, but it works with the music. Unfortunately, they band didn't play "Girl and the Sea" from their first album, Beams, which brought down the house last time we saw them at the Rock and Roll Hotel.
The crowd thinned out a bit for Cut Copy, which is a bit surprising since we keep hearing about them. They sold out the Black Cat in May with Black Kids, their new album, In Ghost Colors, has been getting very good reviews, and we heard earlier New York shows were amazing. Unfortunately, going into a show expecting to be blown away rarely turns out in the end, and while the set was fun and pretty good, it was a small let down. The band's sound was a little muddled, especially Dan Whitford's vocals, and the crowd wasn't quite as into them — still dancing, but not going completely crazy.
Cut Copy had four people on stage, including a guitarist, and while The Presets lean towards '80s icons like Depeche Mode, Cut Copy leans more in the Duran Duran and house music directions. They also go more for hypnotic instrumental sections, like "Out There on the Ice", one of those close-your-eyes-and-just-dance parts. The band also got some call-and-response going with "Feel the Love," and Whitford was a fun performer to watch, gesturing and striking epic poses. The one-song encore of "Hearts on Fire" was, as expected, a highlight, but the crowd also loved the single "Lights and Music" with its pulsating bass guitar and choppy keyboards.
Despite getting our hopes up too much, the smiling, sweaty crowd filing out onto V Street affirmed that the show was a big success.
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Probably the most fun show I've seen at 930.
I agree with Nathaniel, it was one of the best shows I've ever seen anywhere, period. However, I have to disagree that the crowd wasn't quite into them. I can see from the photos you were to the left of the stage; on the right, people were pretty crazy. Cut Copy are great and you can only hope they'll be back many more times in their career.
I very much enjoyed both Cut Copy and The Presets and would see either of them in concert again.