A Happy Little Accident- Chase Atlantic Tears The Roof Off of The Fillmore

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I don’t know if I’m still just trying to recover from back-to-back music festivals (shout out Riot Fest and Punk Rock Bowling for being amazing this year) or what but I made a huge rookie mistake last night. I’ve been addicted to this pop-punk band called Stand Atlantic lately so when I saw “something Atlantic” on The Fillmore’s calendar, I rushed to sign up to cover it. Silly me. As I was standing in the longer than usual line waiting to get into the beautiful Fillmore, something clicked and I realized the mistake I had made. I had a press pass for Chase Atlantic, not Stand Atlantic, and, although bummed when I realized this error on my part, I was excited to see what Chase Atlantic was all about. I’ve gone into shows blind before but this one was on a new level and I kind of liked the thrill.

Although the lines were long and I thought there was no way I was going to make it inside to see opening act Niko Rubio, the venue or crew had noticed the long lines and pushed back the start time by fifteen minutes giving me the chance to get inside, notice my surroundings (which instantly made it clear that I was out of place and quite possibly the oldest person in the packed house), and get ready to catch the opener. I was beyond thankful for the delay because as soon as Niko and her “really hot band” (as she put it) took the stage, I was captivated. Niko’s music, much like her personality, shined under the bright lights of the stage. I was instantly struck by something so genuine about her performance that compensated for the fact that her pop-drenched love songs weren’t quite my typical jam. Being in the photo pit gave me a chance to really feel her energy and I was smiling from ear to ear as she bantered with the diehard fans that found themselves in the front row against the barricade. Just like the audience was genuinely in love with her and her music, Niko was also clearly in love with the admiration and support she was getting from the audience.

Niko is still a fairly new act so I was unable to find much about her history online but her tagline on Instagram simply reads “La Princesa del Mar” which is seriously a perfect description of her and her music. I loved how she had a song in Spanish. She asked the crowd who knew Spanish and when it was a mere mutter from the nearly sold-out audience, she responded that everyone should get on Rosetta Stone. That was such a small snapshot of Niko’s powerful thirty-minute set but it was a moment that stood out to me. From that moment to the beautiful acoustic cover of Paramore’s “Only Exception” to the way the audience would scream every time a band member would return to the stage to grab some of their gear as the stage was being turned over for the headliner, there was electricity in the air throughout the venue on Saturday night and it made me more than okay with the rookie mistake I had made and how I truly accidentally found myself at this show.

I couldn’t see what was happening because of where I got stuck between sets but the amount of shouting and screaming happening between sets was damn near deafening. Hundreds of girls were shrieking as they pointed up to the balcony. I can only speculate that the members of Chase Atlantic were up there just taunting the audience and the amount of excitement that created in the young audience was entertaining to watch and heartwarming to feel. I remember being young and being completely obsessed with band members and although I still get those butterflies from time to time, I no longer scream at the top of my lungs when I see someone. Seeing other people do that made me feel youthful, made me smile from ear to ear, and made me super excited to see who or what a Chase Atlantic was.

Kicking their set off with a powerful and impressive drum solo, this band wasted no time jumping into an almost twenty-song set that had the audience melting with every note. Although Chase Atlantic’s stage show complete with giant screens that blasted out branded content and song names mixed with a constant cloud of haze made getting photos next to impossible for me, it really set the mood for their music. A little bit cloud hop, a little R&B, a little alternative rock, and a whole lot of energy– much like Niko’s set, although this music wasn’t quite for me, the live show that Chase Atlantic gave the audience was more than enough to have me sold on this band. 

Although I had stumbled into this show with no knowledge about the band, the rest of the audience made up for my mistake. I would be willing to bet that I was the only one in the venue who was unable to scream along to every word but being able to just stand back and take that all in was part of the magic of last night. With three albums out and a smattering of EPs and singles, Chase Atlantic has more than enough material to cover a few hours yet they were somehow able to pick everyone’s favorite tracks to fill their Saturday night set with. With deafening screams merging the gap between every track performed, there wasn’t a single moment of quiet throughout the set on Saturday and the energy level on the stage or audience never faltered.

What does Bob Ross call them again? Happy little accidents? That’s what Saturday night was for me. I’m still waiting on my chance to see Stand Atlantic perform live but am so glad that my absentmindedness led me to see Chase Atlantic live.

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