Bad Suns' fans turn out early, very early, for front-row position

Scrabble leaned against the brick wall behind the three bundled up teenagers. Tucked away in their bags was Uno and Connect Four, a portable phone charger and muffins, make-up and a mirror.

They’d come prepared — and they’d come early.

The group drove separately from Tallahassee, Orlando and Tampa to meet up on the concrete outside Jack Rabbits, an intimate concert house and bar on Hendricks Avenue in San Marco.

At about 9 a.m. — 10 hours before the doors opened for Tuesday night’s concert — the friends had laid out their blankets and set up their portable camp chairs and prepared to wait out the day.

It was nothing usual, they said, especially if they wanted that coveted spot right at the front of the stage. That up-close spot where they get an un-interrupted view of the band, where they can almost, just nearly, touch the Bad Suns band members.

“Why go to a concert if you aren’t up front?” asked Drew Bauserman, 17, of Tallahassee, who would be seeing the American rock band from California for the first time. He’d long enjoyed their alternative sounds after his friend, Dominique Akinyemi, encouraged him to listen — and now, she’d pulled him the three or so hours from Florida’s capital to Jacksonville.

There was no way they wouldn’t be in the front row.

“I guess if I wanted to be sappy, certain bands just resonate with people,” said Akinyemi, who has a tattoo referencing the band’s tour name, Heartbreaker. Her top five, most-played songs on Spotify: all by Bad Suns. Her 2016 most-played artist? Also Bad Suns.

“This band, it’s been one of the groups whose music has been influential in my life. Certain songs I can hear, and it’s, like, a comfort. I listen to them when I’m happy or sad, when I’m in love or when I’m lonely,” she said.

“Retweet,” her nearby friend, Ai-Ly Le, said, expressing agreement with Akinyemi’s words. “[The band], it’s a bop, a bop and a half.”

This would be Akinyemi’s fifth time seeing Bad Suns and Le’s second, but the two weren’t the only ones with band history.

Just down the row, a group of girls from Orlando said they’d been in Jacksonville since 3 a.m. Some of them had seen the band three times, some five, and some 12. After tonight’s performance, two of the girls planned to continue the trip north toward Atlanta, where they’d watch Bad Suns play again.

“Why not?” said Kelsey Fauquher. “Life is short. Why not travel for a concert?”

Her friend, Kasey Makal, chimed in: “Yeah, their music is just really groovey.”

Fauquher, who now has three tattoos dedicated to the band, first heard Bad Suns at a festival. This was before they’d even released an album, she said.

“They played two songs, and I said this is it,” Fauquher added. “You can just tell they are passionate about what they are doing.”

Fauquher and Makal met each other at a Bad Suns concert. They’ve been friends since. The band, they say, brings people together. In fact, the other girls they were with bonded over Bad Suns as well.

“We do this quite often, especially for this band,” said Natalie Downs.

All of them said they liked the band’s music, but they also liked how nice the band members are.

One of the Bad Suns band members responded to an Instagram message from one of the girls. A friend didn’t have a ticket and wanted to go — but the show was sold out. Bad Suns put the girl on the guest list, so she didn’t have to miss out.

According to Rob French, production manager at Jack Rabbits, the show has been sold out for over a month. In fact, of the band’s next five shows, three are already sold out.

Whether people line up in front of concert venue depends on the show, and it can be different every night, French added. Usually, when crowds gather, it is a younger audience and an earlier show. Shows catering to an older demographic do sell out, he said, but they don’t tend to draw the line waiting outside for that stage-front spot.

Bad Suns played Free Bird Live in 2014, but this is their first time playing at Jack Rabbits, said French.

“This is just what we do,” he said. “It’s live music.”

Amanda Williamson: (904) 359-4665