The ongoing pandemic has put most social activities on pause, including large, crowded concerts. Thankfully, artists have found a workaround with live streaming, allowing them to perform for a virtual crowd of fans. Since live streams are online, they are much more accessible for fans all around the world, and thus allowed me to go to Chase Atlantic’s live stream on February 20th.
The stream was available as a link on their website, leading to a live video with a chat next to it, where fans proclaimed their excitement throughout the virtual concert. Even online, fans found a way to connect as links to Discord groups were posted in the chat and everyone discussed their hopes for the set list.
Before the concert itself started, the video showed the band driving up to the venue and grabbing their instruments, almost like the beginning of a (really, really long) music video. Then the video cut to the band members, live on a stage, all sitting in a line of chairs. Without ceremony, they jumped into their first song, “Swim”. There were multiple cameras set up, capturing different angles as the music played. The band wore simple, mostly black outfits, choosing not to contrast with the three graphic screens surrounding them and lighting up the dark. “Swim” started out simple, with fog covering the stage and strobe lights but nothing too flashy on the screens.
The second song, “23”, was much brighter, with pink and blue lights, as well as red graphics on the screens throughout the song. The lights fit the mood of the song, fading slowly as the song got quieter but flashing as the energy increased.
Slowing down from the second song, the third song played was “Into It”. Since the song was less intense, the graphics were dimmed as well. However, the excitement of the crowd only increased as a saxophone was brought into the mix to be played at the end of the song. I was impressed at the transition from guitar to saxophone, as the cameras cut away to different angles until the guitarist had become the saxophone player.
The saxophone lasted through the fifth song, “Angeline”. The screens displayed pastel cartoon visuals and blue lighting as the sax played. Based off of the chat, the song was a fan favourite and brought nothing but all caps as it played.
Another perk of a virtual concert is the ability to give the artists a break and display an actual video, which is what Chase Atlantic chose to do as an interlude. A video appeared, advertising their upcoming album and their music video for their new single, “EMPTY”. The reminders then cut to an animation of an eye, which faded until it became simply a part of the graphic screens and Chase Atlantic appeared live once more.
The fifth song was unnamed, as it was a teaser for their upcoming album, Beauty In Death. It sounded great, and very much fit in with the style of their recent singles, though they played only a teaser and not the entire song. For my understanding, the album will also include a mystery feature.
The sixth song, “What You Call That”, continued on with their known discography. Sadly, the saxophone was gone, but the lyrics were displayed on the screens and there was a lot more fog covering the stage.
“What You Call That” was a slow reintroduction to the live stream, but the seventh song, “Drugs and Money”, brought back a burst of energy even as the band stayed seated on their stools. The screens around then showed a graphic of galaxies and stars expanding and bursting, which only contributed to the intensity of the song.
Once again slowing it down, the band played their song “Ozone” for the eighth track on the set list. Following the beat, the lights faded from blue to red and back again, resting on blue at the very end.
Following one of their slowest songs of their set came the most energetic finale, one of their new singles from the album, “MOLLY”. The lights all changed to pastel shades and the screens displayed a looping video of a girl next to a pastel pink car. While the song itself wasn’t completely intense, it was the most emotional, with one of the guitarists singing a verse, and the saxophone joining halfway through to finish off the performance. Even the lead got up to finish the song, the first movement away from the chairs.
As the song ended and the screen faded to black, fans demanded an encore, much like a regular concert, though an encore never happened. Despite not being able to have the concert in person, Chase Atlantic put on a great performance, and fans were still able to share in their excitement from completely different locations.
