Images: Such Gold October 2, 2016 at the Beauty Bar

I arrived to the Beauty Bar just short of a full Caskitt set. The San Diego melodic hardcore band really impressed me with their recently-released Old Fires New Frontier, a phenomenal collection that digs deep into current social issues. In a live setting, the soft tone of the vocals set a peaceful yet teenage angsty mood that had the crowd head banging.

I was surprised at how under capacity the Beauty Bar’s trailer court was on this night, but things did seem to fill up a bit as Such Gold took the stage. It’s hard to believe that it had been three years since they last played in Vegas (well, Henderson). The band has a way of adding the perfect layer of melody while sticking to the speed and emotional depths of hardcore. Much to our photographer’s chagrin, after their second song, guitarist/vocalist Ben Kotin asked for the lights to be cut and for the noise to be set to max. A fan climbed up on stage and unplugged the colorful lights serving as the only barrier between band and fan. Now it was on.

Such Gold played songs from their entire discography, and the guys really got the crowd on their feet, but it wasn’t until they played “Storyteller” from their 2012 debut album Misadventures that everyone raised their fists and got rowdy.

Despite the fact that they had a long drive ahead of them to Denver, the band stuck around a bit to interact with everyone who made it out. As a long time Such Gold fan I hope it doesn’t take them another three years to come back around. It’s always soul-feeding to see a true hardcore band doing what they love.

-Bia Leyva-Mena

Photos by Hunter Wallace | https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter_wallace/