Los Angeles band Bad Suns celebrated a new album with two nights at the Fonda Theatre joined by Kid Bloom and Little Image on Wednesday and girlfriends and More* on Thursday. The hometown band has been at it for 10 years at this point and delivered hit after hit and incredible new material from fourth album Apocalypse Whenever with over 90 minutes of their own blend of danceable dream pop and alternative rock.
Thursday night girlfriends (they’re stylized lowercase, if you were wondering) consists of Travis Mills and Nick Gross and their entire set was explosive, kicking off with the lively “Jessica”, followed by a thrilling drum and guitar section matched with excellent vocals on “The First Time”, while hands were together from fans on the instrumental.
The punk-pop party continued with “Up All Night”, with a standout drum section and a vocal from Mills proving he actually knows how to emphatically scream-sing well —in the way that there’s more attention on the singing than the screaming. Another lively song “Farewell” (off their 2020 self-titled debut record) was played for the first time with a powerful and emotive vocal from Mills. “When we were writing this record it was the most depressed I’ve ever been, dealing with ADD, but with this guy, right here got me through it,” said Mills, pointing to his musical partner Gross. He went on to thank the crowd and for getting nothing but love on the songs they wrote after he locked himself in a room, pouring his heart out into the material. He talked about everyone’s struggles and said “things get better”.
The chatter with the audience made the punch of “Where Were You” that much more impactful, with excellent harmonies (Travis Barker is on the recorded version of this one). Mills taught the crowd “Tattoo”, “I got a new tattoo, ’cause it reminds me of you” repeating the words back while they clapped back with the catchy lyrics. The guys announced it was the first time they were ever playing a new track called “Missing You”, an anthemic rock ballad with memorable guitar effects and a standout vocal. It was overall a kick in the teeth in terms of energy and the raucous tone continued with pure pop-rock tune “We’re All Fucked Up”. girlfriends are for sure on the rise, they performed like it was a major rock show and they clearly have the vocal abilities and musicianship to headline rock festivals in a couple few years.
Bad Suns offered a sensational, non-stop show with driving dream-pop, new wave and rock perfection. It was an evening of flickering lights on stage coupled with clapping, dancing and singing along to songs fans have enjoyed for a decade and new ones from an album released just last week.
Frontman and guitarist Christo Bowman was charismatic, decked out in a leather jacket and leather pants, while guitarist Ray Libby and bassist/keyboard player Gavin Bennett wore black jackets. They leapt full-force into the feel-good new tune “Peachy”, while Bowman made his way all over the stage. The shiny rays of “Heaven Is A Place In My Head” was next, with strong guitars on the pop/rock song and a fun “oh ay oh ay oh ay oh ay” call-and-response between the band and the crowd.
The fans went wild for older favorite, the alt-rock leaning “Cardiac Arrest” followed by an announcement of their name and that Bad Suns are from Los Angeles, which was followed by screams. The party continued with new wave-y “Dancing On Quicksand” with a really incredible falsetto from Bowman, groovy guitars and stylish syncopation from drummer Miles Morris and fans’ hands up while they —you guessed it, danced their faces off.
“Los Angeles, I’m falling in love with you all over again”, said Bowman. “Here’s a song about falling in love”, before going into the more garage rock “The World And I”. The version was crystal clear with an addicting groove as the spectacular lights and shadows floated over the band. An exhilarating drum opening with flashing lights delighted fans during the rhythmic “Disappear Here” with an equally massive ending.
Lead singer Bowman ditched the leather jacket, revealing a black vest on the tropical-flavored new “Baby Blue Shades”, a complete highlight of the night with good vibes, hands up, clapping and furiously fun dancing. Another new track, the dreamy “Silently Screaming” found Bowman killing it on yet another vocal while shaking his hips and getting fans in the mood with his magnetic energy.
The mid-tempo “Violet” was a nice change of pace followed by popular 2014 track “We Move By The Ocean” while hands and voices continued to be sky-high. Bowman did a couple bars of Sixpence None The Richer’s “There She Goes” and immediately blended it with their own rocked-up tune “Off She Goes”, while guitarist Libby joined in on the background vocals.
Bowman announced the next song with the description “like getting back together with an old friend like no time has gone by at all…that’s what it feels like tonight”. “When The World Was Mine” was that groovy, danceable bop, offering a mid-song shout out to the guitar color added by Libby. Another Bad Suns best-of-the-night moment was the infectious track “Life Was Easier When I Only Cared About Me”. Bowman spun around mid-song as he sang “I was spinning around and around in an ocean of grief, your ladder came down to the sea”, while the dancing ensued to the dance-pop tune that sounds plucked out of an MTV 80s top hits playlist. (This one would sound particularly thrilling with a real-life string section one day, we are here for that!)
Bad Suns did a couple bars of Blur’s “Song 2” (Woo-hoo!) shocking everyone’s system before transitioning into their own rocked-up “ooh-ooh” hit “Transpose”, the first song they ever wrote.
They slowed it down finally for “Away We Go” which started on acoustic guitar, spotlighting Bowman while the band eventually picked up the tempo as the crowd clapped over a beautiful guitar. The heartbreaking “Wishing Fountains” brought all the feels and a stunning vocal on the lyric “the world’s not falling apart, but you and I, baby we are”. The new album’s title track “Apocalypse Whenever” encompassed the theme of the entire record which is to live life to the fullest despite what’s going on, resonating on the lyric, “Life’s not been pretty, but I’m still not ready to die, I’ve never felt so alive”. The uplifting track showcased Bowman’s unique rock voice while Libby provided some amazing backup vocals.
Bowman acknowledged his bass player and drummer on the heavy song “Rearview”, while the audience repeated “ay ay ay ay” after their frontman. He got everyone to go “low low low low” on the floor and commanded everyone to jump up in unison with the lyric “losing your control”. The massive “Salt” was next, another huge highlight while the stage lighting flooded the band in luminous colors and the drums were perfectly crushed by Morris.
“Here’s a song for all you pretty, pretty people”, said Bowman before Bad Suns radiated “Daft Pretty Boys”, accompanied by flashing strobe lights and sounding in moments like The Police. The encore concluded the set with acoustic guitar and then the full band took over the good vibes on indie-pop tune “Heartbreaker”. Bad Suns have been compared to a modern version of The Cure, but they certainly have elements of Duran Duran and The Killers in their body of work, showmanship and seriously-catchy melodies. Overall, Bad Suns delivered a night of positive dance-pop and rock, and they are poised to headline festivals and arenas in the near future, they certainly have the material and the gusto to slay.
Bad Suns’ U.S. tour will continue this month and into early March with Kid Bloom and Little Image while girlfriends will return for the opening slot March 3 at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA. Queen’s Gambit actress Anya Taylor-Joy was spotted in the crowd, More* lead singer Malcolm McRae’s girlfriend.
All photos by Michael Menachem.
