Their low-key release of ambient works, January Tape, marked their strongest full-length release since the high watermark of In Ghost Colours. These achievements can’t be translated to the stage here (though support slots from Harvey Sutherland & Bermuda and Statue echo the curation of Oceans Apart).
The brooding pulse of set opener Need You Now stroked the balance between spectacle and that communal emotion often captured in a festival setting. It’s that shift of time. Once Zonoscope was the ‘new’ material. That’s six years ago now.
Airborne received its Melbourne debut, a serviceable addition to the setlist, to damn with faint praise. Another new, chirpier track surfaced later in the set, stronger than Airborne on first impression.
“This is a band born out of The Avalanches,” guitarist Tim Hoey declared to the crowd (one that included Robbie Cheter and Tony Di Blasi). “A band born from Midnight Juggernauts, from the laneways outside Honkytonks.” It was a flash of hometown pride, that didn’t go as far to define the ceremony of the night. It was a slight articulation that something special was achieved in 2000s Melbourne.
The songs themselves articulated it better. Out There On The Ice. Hearts On Fire. A throwback to Future, a song performed at the very first Cut Copy gig, which none of us were at because, “We didn’t invite anyone,” according to band progenitor Dan Whitford.
Meet Me In A House Of Love opened the encore, a reminder that 2013’s Free Your Mind had its moments. Into the heights and joyous drops of Lights And Music, before house lights and no music.
There’s a difference between cheap nostalgia and real memories. Cut Copy have provided real memories, and while their Melbourne show couldn’t fare with raindrops on cue at Meredith 2011, it was still a nice little memory.
Highlight: Be my baby, one more time.
Lowlight: A permeating feeling that this function was a Splendour warm-up, rather than an all-out homecoming celebration.
Crowd Favourite: Transitioning from upward finger pointing in the verses to splayed hands in the air for the choruses.
