House of Music

Bad Suns

Emo’s

Austin, TX

September 22nd, 2025

Photos and Review by Roy Vergara

Situated on Austin’s vibrant East Riverside strip, Emo’s transforms ordinary weeknights into memorable experiences. On this Monday night, Austin showed up in full force for Bad Suns, proving that the city’s love for live music doesn’t wait for weekends.

The evening opened with Yot Club at 8:00 pm, the lo-fi indie pop project of Mississippi-based musician Ryan Kaiser. His music blended bedroom pop, synth pop, and surf pop with fuzzy accents, creating a sound steeped in nostalgia and dreamlike transitions. Kaiser’s set carried a relaxed, effortless charm, culminating with a playful comment about playing “a little country since they were in Texas” before closing with “Japan” and thanking the tour crew. This disarming, breezy performance provided the perfect warm-up, allowing fans to ease into the night before the main event.

As the stage was being turned over, the crowd found ways to keep themselves entertained. Familiar pop anthems played over the speakers, and soon people were singing along to “Unwritten,” “A Thousand Miles,” and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” The atmosphere was lighthearted and fun, serving as a warm-up before the main event, and it kept the energy in the room lively until Bad Suns took the stage.

At 9:20 pm the lights dropped and the band emerged to the opening of “Slow Karma.” The energy flipped instantly. “We Move Like the Ocean” and “Mystery Girl” followed in rapid fire, each song stretching the room tighter until it felt like one pulse. Watching Christo Bowman grin out over the crowd, it felt like this band was built for rooms exactly like this.

The set rolled through favorites like “Madeline,” “Heartbreaker,” and “Life Was Easier When I Only Cared About Me.” After several songs into the set, Bowman peeled off his suit jacket exposing the tank top underneath, already dripping from the heat, and later during “Back to Zero” the shirt disappeared altogether as fans cheered in approval.

By the middle of the set the crowd was entirely his. “Austin Texas, come on” he shouted during “Ready to Take Flight,” and the floor beneath us bounced like it might give way. When he leaned in and said “So apparently it’s Monday night and this portion of the night I want to see some bodies dancing out there,” the room erupted, bodies spinning and colliding to “Dancing on Quicksand.”

The set also featured intimate moments. “Violet” transformed into a tender duet between Bowman and the audience, stripped down to guitar and hundreds of voices singing in unison. In an unexpected twist before “Communicating,” Bowman asked everyone to open Spotify and play the song together on their phones. Though the resulting sound was beautifully chaotic and off-tempo, it created a unique shared experience that connected everyone in the room.

Later in the night Bowman took the connection even further, climbing into the crowd and letting himself be lifted up and carried while still singing. For a few minutes he was no longer just the frontman onstage but part of the mass of fans who held him high, blurring the line between performer and audience.

The final stretch kept the crowd in motion, each track pushing the energy higher until the room was spinning with joy. “Cardiac Arrest” pulsed through the venue like a heartbeat before the band closed with “Daft Pretty Boys.” Bowman paused to thank Austin for making the night so special and filmed the crowd as if he did not want to forget it either. With one last wave the band walked offstage at 10:50 pm as Cher’s “Believe” blasted from the speakers, sending fans out dancing into the night.

Bad Suns did not just bring the AcceleraTour to Austin. Emo’s became a space where fans and band blurred together, where a Monday night felt like Saturday, and where every lyric carried extra weight because the entire room was shouting it back.

Check out the gallery below to relive the night or see what you missed.

You Club

Bad Suns