Cut Copy + Matt & Kim

Photos by Nina Barry.

Beware the Ides of March, my ass. On March 15th, Denver was treated to a gratuitous double dip of stellar live music performances at the Bluebird Theater courtesy of Brooklynites Matt & Kim and the blokes in Cut Copy.

Openers Matt & Kim have been steadily building a name for themselves over the past few years thanks in large part to their electrifying live performances and a rigorous tour schedule that puts most other acts to shame. Kim’s megawatt smile and Matt’s perpetual look of relaxed glee make them tough not to love, the music almost secondary to the magnetism they exude while playing. Judging by the audience’s reaction to their set, it’s easy to imagine that there were at least as many concertgoers there to watch them as the headliners. Bodies bobbed, fists pumped, and energy cycled from the artists to the assembled and back again in an intensifying feedback loop, the culmination of which was Matt standing on the shoulders and hands of enthusiastic and (literally) supportive crowd.

[ Nina Barry ]

The rest of the evening belonged to Cut Copy, a group who always draws a sell-out crowd whenever they come through Denver (tonight was no exception: scalpers outside were gladly snapping up unwanted tickets at $40 a pop). After being disappointed by a somewhat lifeless performance by the band in a giant, sweltering tent at last year’s Coachella festival, I found my opinion of Cut Copy’s live show thoroughly redeemed–thanks in no small part to an adventurous lighting rig that burned warm yellows and purples in thumping syncopation to the sequencers and live drum tracks.

Leaning heavily toward tracks from their most recent release, In Ghost Colours, Cut Copy served up thick pieces of synthesized melodies and the arterial pumping of disco-tinged drum beats which the crowd appreciatively lapped up. Particular highlights included the “Time Stands Still” from 2004′s Bright Like Neon Love and the song everyone knew would be saved for last, the impossible to resist “Lights and Music.”

All in all, it was a night with no filler–two airtight performances from a pair of exciting bands still generating steam from their sophomore releases.

[ Nina Barry ]