Bad Suns @ Paradise Rock Club

Bad Suns
featuring QTY and HUNNY

October 27, 2017 @ Paradise Rock Club

By: Ashley Juliano

What better way to kick off Halloweekend than seeing a band that exclusively releases bops? Bad Suns’ signature sound bounced off the walls of the Paradise Rock Club. On this headlining tour, the band was of the most confident I’ve seen since becoming a fan around five years ago.

Anticipation for Suns built as two openers, QTY and HUNNY, gave intriguing performances. Each band played tunes (“Rodeo” and “Televised” respectively) that stood out among the rest of the show. With sounds similar to that of the headliner, both acts have clear potential in the indie-rock world, but it was clear the crowd was there for some California Suns.

The signature sound of Suns bounced off the walls of the Paradise Rock Club as the crowd waved, sang, and moved as best they could in the tight quarters of this sold out show. Opening with their sophomore album’s title track “Disappear Here”, lead vocalist Christo Bowman bounced around in true Christo fashion, flirting with the edge of the stage and reaching out to fans who waited all day for the barricade. “Love Like Revenge” and “Transpose” rang out next as Bowman, drummer Miles Morris, lead guitarist Ray Libby, and bassist Gavin Bennett really got into their groove, showcasing that not only is this band great on the album, but they bring the house down live. Perfectly pulsey beats, hella reverb, a simple pop rhythm, and heavy hooks are the foundations of a good Bad Suns song, and although this style is common in alt-pop these days, nobody does it quite like them.

After a few songs, the gears switched to the spookiest song in their discography as a compliment to the weekend. As Bowman gathered his microphone cord and looked to the crowd, all I could think was, ‘oh boy, you already know what’s going down.’ As the opening chords of “Sleep Paralysis” played, the crowd reeled closer to the stage and Bowman into their arms.

The set was a healthy mix of oldies but goodies, my personal fave being “20 Years”, new tunes like “This Was a Home Once”, and a plethora from their first two albums Transpose and Disappear Here. The reflective shimmer of the backdrop emitted a glowing colorful aura and made you feel like nothing else mattered but the smooth bass of “Swimming in the Moonlight”. This track and the rest of the set was what really drove this concert home; back to back slammers with “Daft Pretty Boys”, “Outskirts of Paradise”, “Cardiac Arrest”, “Rearview”, and Disappear Here’s smash single “Heartbreaker” set the night up for success. The set ended and fans flooded into the streets of Boston, dancing along to the familiar beats of closing song “Salt” as they geared up for a spooky night on the town.