Chase Atlantic • 24kGoldn • November 13, 2024 • The Complex
Reviewed and Photographed by Amelia Weyerstall
“This may be the best night of your life so far, fingers crossed, and I say so far because life is very long and it’s also fleeting, if you want me to get deep with it, but for real it means the honest world to us that you guys came here and put us on this stage right now. So thank you Salt Lake City, make some MTF noise!” shouted Mitchel Cave, the lead singer for Chase Atlantic. The energy inside of the Rockwell at the Complex was electric when both Chase Atlantic and 24kGoldn took the stage. The entire west side of Salt Lake was shaking from the audience jumping along to the songs during the sold-out show on November 13th.
24kGoldn
The rapper 24kGoldn, also known as Golden Landis Von Jones, may have been the only person on the stage, but he brought the energy of a thousand people. He started off his set with VALENTINO, which instantly had the crowd jumping and singing along. Jones came out in a white SLC sweatshirt, hyping the local crowd. Jones’s energy was infectious and had the whole crowd jumping and singing along. This was especially true when Jones asked the audience if they wanted to play a game. The crowd excitedly agreed, Jones proceeded to split the audience in half and explained how the right side of the crowd would sing “Coco” and the left “Chanel.”
After practicing with each side, the song “Coco” started to play and the competition between the two sides began. Little did the audience know the winning side would be rewarded with some merch! The side that sang Chanel won the competition and t-shirts were thrown into the crowd. Jones also went down into the photo pit to touch the crowd while singing “Prada”, creating special moments for the first few rows of fans. Towards the end of the set, Jones decided to play the guitar and take it slower for the last few songs.
It happened to be Jones’ birthday, and everyone was excited to celebrate it. When he mentioned that it was his birthday, the audience started to sing Happy Birthday, just before Jones said that he was going to celebrate by playing some unreleased music. The crowd went wild. At the end of Jones’ performance, Chase Atlantic came out to celebrate, with cake, candles, and all. They encouraged the whole crowd to sing Happy Birthday once again to the now 24-year-old so he could blow out his candles. Jones also said that this was “the best birthday ever” and “the SLC crowd has more energy than expected”
Jones ended the performance with his most popular song “Mood” a wildly popular song when it was released, ending on a high note, and preparing the audience for Chase Atlantic.
Chase Atlantic
The lead singer of Chase Atlantic, Mitchel Cave, walked out onto the stage holding a plastic blue cup and a bottle of fireball. The show was filled with nothing but high energy and excitement for the crowd. With their hands in the air all night, the audience shook the whole venue jumping along to the songs. The stage was tiered and lit with incredible graphics, including flowerfields, pills, and a church being struck by lightning. The staging, lighting, and imagery added an amazing sensory experience to the performance.
This is not the first time that this Australian band has played in Utah, previously they played in 2019 and came back again in 2022. This tour comes on the heels of their newest album release, “Lost in Heaven”, and the majority of the songs played during the show were from this darker album. The performance matched the energy and sound of the album but still maintained Chase Atlantic’s powerful sounds and vocals. The whole show was themed around the album cover, and the drum set had a set of eyes similar to the characters on the cover, really tying everything together.
Throughout the entire performance, the energy was electric. Cave’s stage presence was immaculate. I’ve never seen an artist with so much energy while performing, while also using the whole stage’s size. It was truly incredible. During the show, Cave asked the audience to get lower to the ground so that when the beat dropped everyone would jump up at the same time together, this was a super cool way to keep the crowd’s energy up after a few slower songs.
On many occasions, Cave asked for everyone’s hands to be in the air. The whole band was so sweet to the crowd, checking in before every song to make sure that everyone was having fun and that everyone was doing okay. Mainly due to the fact that at other shows there have been minor incidents where members of the crowd have passed out or overheated for various reasons. This did occur once at the Complex show, but it was taken care of quickly and efficiently, and everyone ended up being okay. The check-ins from the band made the atmosphere a very welcoming place and turned the whole crowd into a family that took care of each other. The Complex’s staff and security were also dancing along to the music, adding an even larger sense of community.
Right before the encore, the whole band disappeared from the stage. The crowd chanted for one more song, Cave responded that before they came back out everyone’s hands needed to be in the air, and told the crowd that if anyone next to you had their hands down that you should raise them up. The audience absolutely matched the energy Cave was looking for. When the intro for “Swim” started to play the audience went nuts and the
crowd compacted towards the stage, they got even more excited when Cave took off his shirt. The crowd stepped up the energy yet again when Chase Atlantic started to play “Friends” and brought 24kGoldn to play with them. “Friends” is the most popular song of the band, and it was certainly a great way to end the night.