Live Review: Cut Copy at the Regency Ballroom

Photo Credit: Joel Wessel

There’s nothing quite like a hot, sticky and sweaty dance party to remind you that San Francisco’s still got it, even if you’re a decrepit oldster like me.

That’s exactly the kind of good time that synth-pop maestros Cut Copy delivered on November 13 at the Regency Ballroom, despite some technical hiccups. Touring behind their excellent 2025 album, “Moments,” the Australian veterans dazzled a packed house with their brand of irresistibly danceable electronica.

While the band played plenty of new tracks off “Moments,” they never strayed too far from their beloved album, “In Ghost Colours,” which set a high water mark for new-wave indie music when it was released in 2008. In fact, the band opened with two tracks from that release—“Visions” and “Nobody Lost, Nobody Found,”—before delving into newer material.

For a brief moment, the show seemed imperiled by wayward technical difficulties. Roughly 30 minutes into their set, the band left the stage for several moments due to ongoing issues with their sound connections, but after a feverish plea from an impassioned crowd, they made a triumphant return.

The rest of the set went on without incident, as the quartet combined a dizzying light display with a collection of dancefloor bangers. They closed their set with the “In Ghost

Colours” classic “Hearts on Fire,” before returning with an encore featuring the unstoppable one-two punch of “Need You Now” and “Lights and Music,” the best songs of the band’s enviable catalog.

By then, the entire venue was one sweaty, delirious mess—a mass of bounding bodies totally entranced by the music. So yeah—it ended up being a perfect Cut Copy show.