I walked up to London KOKO a half hour before doors opened, surprised to see a line that wrapped around the corner of the venue. It was a very young crowd, many accompanied by a parent or guardian in order to get into the show. It was a couple of nights into Waterparks’ full UK/Europe tour in support of their sophomore album, “Entertainment” released in January. Teenagers paraded around the street in front of the venue with glitter on their faces and bright blue hair, dyed perfectly to match Waterparks’ frontman, Awsten Knight’s signature look.
Having only two openers for a show is a blessing in disguise on a Sunday night, with the support acts being Dead! from the UK and Patent Pending from Long Island, NY. Dead! is your typical rock band with high energy and a punk-rock vibe, with an obvious following from the UK as fans knew songs such as “Jessica”, an upbeat tune from their newly released album “The Golden Age Of Not Even Trying”. Patent Pending was all about fun, breaking into choreographed dances and having a crowd surfing contest between two of their members. You almost forgot you were at a concert with all of the games that we were playing.
The crowd kept themselves occupied between Patent Pending and Waterparks by singing songs that were played over the speakers (including Vanessa Carlton’s 1000 Miles, I Write Sins Not Tragedies, and Best Song Ever by One Direction), until the lights went down and the room went silent before the screams erupted and the band ran onto the stage.
Waterparks emerged to a sea of blue and purple lights, matching the colors on the “Entertainment” album cover, and jumping into the first song on the album, 11:11. A clean aesthetic isn’t lost on Waterparks as they matched their light show to fit each song on the setlist (yellow for Blonde, orange for Peach, that kinda thing).
Awsten is the typical frontman, jumping and screaming, and his personality shone brighter than the changing lights on the stage. Once the band started the beginning of the oldest song that they played, “Crave”, Awsten looked at the many rows of people in the balcony, shouting into the crowd “y’all at the top gotta clap too, I got lasik, I can fucking see you now, you have to fucking participate”, something I’m sure all of the parents occupying those rows were thrilled to hear.
The setlist was a perfect blend of old and new, with a heavy emphasis on “Entertainment”; an album that Awsten has made very clear was a glimpse into his head and heart over the past year. His humorous demeanor shines through as he performs, singing the second chorus of “We Need To Talk” like a spoken word poem with hand gestures and accenting syllables, a true showcase of who he is as a performer, artist, and human. When the band played an oldie from Double Dare, “Take Her To The Moon”, Awsten introduced the song by saying “what I’m gonna do next is play a bop, are you familiar with what a bop is?”, abandoning his guitar and joining lead guitarist, Geoff Wigington, to jump around aimlessly.
Otto hung back, playing the drums, a medical mask over his face seeing as he was sick, in which Awsten politely had the crowd yell “good job Otto!”, as a way to make him feel better about his current state. Geoff was also quiet, occasionally throwing in back-up vocals and at one point, patting Awsten on the back to comfort him when he tried to FaceTime his dad to show him how big the crowd was and his dad didn’t answer. Thankfully, Awsten’s mom did, creating a heartfelt moment that the fans got to experience.
Throughout the entire show, Waterparks didn’t stop moving, the only “break” in the setlist in terms of energy would have been during “Lucky People”, the only acoustic song from the album. Even then, the crowds sing-a-long was deafening. The boys went back to full band immediately after, with “Not Warriors”, the last song before the impending encore.
Waterparks ended their show with “TANTRUM”, the angriest and most controversial song off of “Entertainment”, walking off the stage abruptly as the recorded voice from the album says “thank you for coming by, today was a really good day”. I found myself, for the first time in a long time, not wanting the show to end. The threesome have high energy and an obvious idea of what they want to portray on stage as a band. Their boyband demeanor and bubblegum pop undertones call for a younger crowd seeing as they are G rated enough to be likeable by parents yet have enough of an edge to them to be popular in the older Warped Tour scene.
Make sure to catch Waterparks all summer long on the last full Van’s Warped Tour and listen to “Entertainment” here!