By Christopher Crone – Buy us a Coffee on Ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/capitalchaostv
Saturday night at Goldfield Trading Post brought a little bit of everything — heavy riffs, groove, attitude, and enough neon insanity to make you wonder if somebody had slipped something into the venue’s water supply. From the opening punch of Sour Diesel to the polished swagger of State Line Empire, the raw energy of Kill Day 6, and the full-blown visual assault of Beat Officers. From the first riff to the last blast of UV light, the night kept building, heavier, louder, and more unpredictable with every band that hit the stage.
Sour Diesel hit the stage and wasted absolutely no time getting Saturday night moving. Thick riffs, plenty of groove, and enough grit to shake the cobwebs loose, they came out swinging and immediately started turning the Goldfield room from “people standing around waiting for the show” into “okay, this shit is getting started.”
Their sound had that familiar hard-rock punch, but there was plenty of energy behind it to keep things feeling fresh. They locked into the groove, kept the riffs coming, and did exactly what a good opener should do — get the crowd warmed up and ready for what was coming next. Mission accomplished.
State Line Empire walked onto that stage carrying some serious history with them. Early in their career, the band took home Guitar Center’s national “Your Next Record” unsigned artist competition — beating out more than 12,000 entries and getting hand-picked by Guitar Center and Slash for an opportunity that could change the trajectory of a band overnight. You could see why.
Their Goldfield performance was tight, confident, and polished without ever feeling overly rehearsed. Every member knew exactly where they needed to be, and the whole band carried themselves like they belonged on that stage. And then there’s bassist Scott Proctor, who brings another interesting piece of rock history to the table after performing with Five Finger Death Punch on backing vocals and keyboards. State Line Empire didn’t need to tell the crowd they had something to prove. They just went out there and proved it.
Then came Kill Day 6, and this is where the night really started getting interesting. Their set was raw, urgent, and heavy without sacrificing the melodic side of their sound. The riffs hit hard, the pacing stayed tight, and the band never gave the crowd a chance to lose interest. And for me, there was an added bonus.
Bassist LouAllen Wheeler and I had spent part of the night geeking out over camera gear — because apparently photographers can turn almost any conversation into “So what lens are you shooting with?” — so getting to watch him tear into the bass afterward was even more fun.
LouAllen brought the same kind of precision to the stage that he brings behind the camera. The low end was locked down, the band was firing on all cylinders, and the chemistry between them was obvious. By the end of the set, Kill Day 6 had done something every band hopes to do when they hit a room where not everyone knows who they are: They made new fans.
And then came one of those little moments that makes covering live music so damn much fun. As Kill Day 6 wrapped up, LouAllen grabbed me from the side of the stage and handed me his phone so I could shoot a band photo for them. I was honored.There are plenty of perks to doing this, but getting pulled into the moment by the musicians themselves is right up there at the top of the list.
And then Beat Officers walked onto the stage and basically turned Goldfield into a fucking UFO landing zone. This was my first time seeing Beat Officers live, and I wasn’t remotely prepared for what was about to happen visually.
Blacklights.
UV.
Glow-in-the-dark elements.
Custom lighting.
Fluorescent everything.
The entire stage transformed into this neon-soaked, blacklight-fueled spectacle that looked like somebody threw a heavy metal show into a radioactive arcade and cranked the volume to eleven. And underneath all of that visual insanity was a band that came back with something to prove.
After a 20-year hiatus, Beat Officers returned with their hard-hitting comeback single “SCARS” earlier this year, and judging from what I saw at Goldfield, they aren’t interested in quietly easing back into the scene. They’re back to make some noise.
Every song came across like a statement. The visuals weren’t just there for decoration — they became part of the performance. The lighting, the UV effects, the movement, and the music all worked together to create something that was completely different from anything else I saw that night. The crowd ate it up.
And honestly, from a photographer’s perspective, this was one of those sets where you start looking at your camera settings and thinking, “Oh hell yeah, we’re doing something different tonight.” Beat Officers proved that twenty years away doesn’t necessarily kill the fire. Sometimes it gives you twenty years worth of gasoline to throw on it.
If you get the chance to catch Beat Officers live, DO IT. This isn’t just a band you listen to. This is a band you see. And with more shows coming, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what they do next.
Capital Chaos TV was there. We saw it. We shot it. And yeah… this one was a hell of a night.
Categories: Concert Photography, Reviews
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