Bad Suns Kick Off The Accelerator Tour In The Phoenix Sun
Graphic by Paige Wallner
Images via Jennifer Elle
Bad Suns | The Van Buren | Phoenix, Arizona
September 18, 2025
Anticipation and excitement fills The Van Buren as fans walk up to the stage securing their spot for the opening nightfirst date of the Accelerator Tour. The Phoenix fans and the dedicated travelers are the lucky ones who were able to witness Bad Sun’s first show without any spoilers of the visuals or setlist. No one knew what to expect, but everyone knew they were going to have a fun night.
While waiting for Bad Suns to make their debut, Yot Club kept the crowd engaged with their opening set. Yot Club is the stage name of Ryan Kaiser (vocalist) and he shared the stage with John-Lewis Anderson (guitarist), Walter Ferguson (drummer) and Matt Simpson (bassist). They are joining Bad Suns for the first half of the Accelerator Tour, with their last show in New York before Joe P takes over for the last ten dates of this leg. Yot Club’s bedroom pop was the perfect choice as a support act, with nostalgic and dreamy melodies, perfectly complimenting Bad Suns’ indie rock and 80s inspired synth sound. Although summer was nearing its end, it was easy to picture yourself on the beach or even on a yacht while listening to their set.
Yot Club began the show by playing “Fly Out West”, a catchy song that got everyone bopping their heads and swaying. “YKWIM?” is Yot Club’s highest streaming song on Spotify and the excited reaction from the crowd provided proof of that statistic. The band closed their set with another one of their hits “Japan”, a catchy surf rock tune. As Yot Club began to leave the stage, fans in the front row screamed for setlists and drumsticks, one fan begging for his cd to be signed by Ryan. The crowd was effectively warmed up after dancing along to Yot Club and ready to keep the party going.
Bad Suns is composed of Christo Bowman (vocalist and guitarist), Gavin Bennett (bassist) and Miles Morris (drummer). This trio originated in 2012 when they were teenagers and they have since released five albums, with their latest Accelerator.
Fans of all ages cannot contain their excitement as the lights go down and the background music pauses. However, there were a few false starts, making the passionate fans scream with every sudden silence. Bad Suns took the stage opening with their hit “Slow Karma” from Accelerator. The colorful laser lights danced on stage and into the crowd, making each song more high energy which hyped up the eager fans. The setlist contained many fun performances of their songs including “Baby Blue Shades” and a slowed down acapella version of “Violet” Christo performed with the crowd.
At one point Christo asked everyone to pull out their phones and queue up “Communicating”. He explained he was curious how it would sound if every phone played the same song at the same time. Although Christo was unimpressed with the sound the sea of phones produced, I must admit in my spot in the crowd it sounded cool. Definitely not as loud as expected, but the idea of everyone coming together to play “Communicating” was a highlight of the night. Christo did promise they would come back to that song and perform it live properly through the venue speakers and not just through phone speakers.
As the show went on and the Phoenix heat set in, Christo took off layers, eventually revealing his own merch, a cropped Accelerator logo green tank top. It was a clever, but subtle self promo that definitely gave fans some fashion inspiration and urge to get in the merch line after the show.
Towards the end of the set Christo asked the crowd to take a step forward so he could climb the barricade and get closer to the fans. He had trust in the crowd to hold him up above their heads; fans tightly gripped his sneakers and hand ensuring he would not fall. He then asked the crowd to get as low as they could during “Back to Zero” and then all jump on his cue. The audience was entirely captivated and everyone was living in the moment and not just through their phone screens. Christo eventually made his way back to the stage and with no encore the band kept the energy up, ending their show with their hit songs “Communicating”, “Cardiac Arrest” and “Daft Pretty Boys”. The band said goodbye to the crowd with a group bow, concluding their first stop on the Accelerator Tour.
It is apparent that the trio still gets along and is not jaded from growing up together. Their childhood bond only strengthened the group dynamics and led to their longevity as a band. Bad Suns delivers an unforgettable performance and that devotion to their craft and fanbase explains their continued success.
Setlist:
Slow Karma
We Move Like The Ocean
Mystery Girl
Off She Goes
Madeline
Heartbreaker
Life Was Easier
Why Am I Like This?
Ready To Take Flight
Baby Blue Shades
Salt
Just Like Magic
Back To Zero
Swimming In The Moonlight
Dancing Quicksand
Heaven Is A Place In My Head
Violet
Do The Twist Of Fate
Communicating
Cardiac Arrest
Daft Pretty Boys
BAD SUNS
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