After an (another) wet weekend in the River City, through some sort of divine intervention we were blessed with the rain holding off long enough to step out and be graced with an absolutely immaculate evening that is the powerhouse Chase Atlantic (15 December).
Opening the evening was US singer-rapper 24kGoldn, who last visited Australia in 2022 as a part of the Listen Out festival. The young US rapper rose to fame with his breakthrough track 'Valentino' back in 2019 and has showed no signs of slowing down and maintaining his rise to stardom.
Unfortunately for this reviewer, I was unable to be present for 24kGoldn's set due to the being told the wrong set times for the evening; alas there was a 60-minute variance in scheduled set times, so unfortunately I wasn't able to witness/ review 24kGoldn's set. While disappointing, from the overheard conversations surrounding 24kGoldn's performance, it was immaculate and more than warmed the stage for the Australian trio.
24kGoldn - image © KealiJoan StudiosWhile seeing the top-charting artist on Billboard's Hottest 100 and a member of XXL's Freshman Class of 2020 would have only added to the evening, the phenomenal performance by Chase Atlantic was more than enough to make the evening one to remember.
In support of their current 'Lost In Heaven' album, Chase Atlantic ferociously took to the stage and immediately began delivering on their signature blend of emo, hip hop and pop.
From the first song, the outfit showed there was significant planning and creativity to their set design. Adorned with screens not only behind the band, but also on the front of the three-tiered, geometric stage they called home for over an hour, punters were treated to every production tool available.
Chase Atlantic - image © KealiJoan StudiosFire (lots of it throughout nearly all of their set), smoke, immaculate lighting design, and incredibly refined trippy and often moody visuals laced with Chase Atlantic's backing screens pushed the trio (with support of their touring musicians) into the limelight and assisted them in delivering an incredibly professional display of prowess.
As a fan of the golden era of Soundcloud rap (RIP Juice, Peep, X), for an Australian (somewhat) act to fit within this emo-influenced mould (with no disrespect and only adoration) is almost unheard of and honestly, quite surprising (I was absolutely shook when I realised the trio were originally from Cairns, Queensland, and now reside/predominantly work out of Los Angeles, California – FNQ represent).
What came as further shock to me, however, was the variation in performance style the outfit chose for a stage of this grandeur. Where their records may rely and utilise a significant amount of digital and synthetic instruments, their live set pushed their often sultry and subdued style into that of a more traditional rock show.
Chase Atlantic - image © KealiJoan StudiosWhile a bit of a shock (at least for this virgin Chase Atlantic concert goer), it was a fantastic display of the musicality that exists within this incredibly talented band.
Throughout the evening the band spoke of their gratitude to be able to play a hometown show, even citing early in the evening that the Cave brothers' grandma was in attendance. By way of context, the trio consists of two brothers – Mitchel and Clinton Cave, lead vocals and lead guitar respectively, and Christian Anthony, rhythm guitar and vocals.
Mitchel and Christian however originally collaborated in boyband What About Tonight to compete in 2012's 'X-Factor'. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) they were eliminated after reaching the top 12, thus leading them to break-up and return to their respective towns, resulting in the current group through Mitchel requiring assistance during a university project.
As spoken to throughout the evening, this university project was undertaken "just across the river" at the Queensland Conservatorium; and the rest is as they say, is history.
Chase Atlantic - image © KealiJoan StudiosChase Atlantic's set oozed sultry swagger and surprising energy, which would come as no surprise to anyone familiar with their relatively extensive discography spanning 10 years (11 if you include their brief stint under the name K.I.D.S.).
They are however a parent's nightmare, with regular drug references and 'satanic' or 'blasphemous' (I use these term very loosely) verbal representations, all of which are wonderfully captured in 'What U Call That' and 'Church' – two personal favourites.
With sexual references and innuendo incorporated throughout their catalogue, accompanying references to high fashion and designer brands, the act could be considered to be somewhat cliché, however to say that about them alone and not the vast majority of the music industry would be incredibly hypocritical and quite bluntly, it's cool as hell.
For the sake of brevity, I will reserve a play-by-play of their 20-odd song set, but the highlights included the aforementioned 'What U Call That' seeing them draped almost exclusively in red light with accompanying falling pills behind them.
There was huge hip hop energy throughout 'OHMAMI', while 'Into It' showed off the absolute prowess of Clinton Cave's saxophone skill; although this was prevalent through a significant share of their set, as was chunky guitars, which I was not expecting at all from this evening.
Other highlights were 'I Don't Like Darkness''s moody and emotional delivery; and 'Church' with some Halloween-esque visuals of a (shock horror) church that again featured fantastic lighting and visual effects.
For me however, the highlight of the evening was the absolutely masterclass in set list construction to round out the evening. Going back-to-back-to-back with three absolutely banging tracks from various stages of their catalogue: 'Church', 'Swim', and 'Friends' (which served as their singular encore song for the evening).
To me, the back end of their set list served my personal preference to their catalogue and allowed a more consistent energy to which the band has flourished in – likely due to the huge support and engagement of the crowed, however that's just one man's opinion.
I will however note my disappointment in my absolute personal favourite – the song that go me into this act initially – 'Paranoid' not being included in the night's performance, but hey, you can't you win them all and there was more than enough smooth, raunchy and elegantly executed alt-pop.
More photos from the concert.
