Waterparks Raise The Roof As They Close Out Their European Tour
Written by Kate Moore
Graphic by Rebekah Witt
I didn’t know quite what to expect from my first Waterparks show. We arrived early, but the queue of fans still snaked well around the side of the venue, laden down with signs, party hats, and merch from previous dates on the tour. This is the sort of dedication Waterparks inspires in their listeners, and we soon saw why.
Phem and Bad Suns opened on the See You In The Future tour, and with Amsterdam being the last date of the European leg, there was a sense of finality to both sets. The energy both acts brought to the stage was phenomenal – a highlight was the crooning “Baby Blue Shades” from Bad Suns, a blast of perfectly curated indie rock that set the tone just right for Waterparks’ entrance.
Opening with “Stupid For You” off their 2016 debut album Double Dare, the atmosphere in the room was immediately euphoric. The energy Waterparks bring to their live sets is truly something that can only be experienced in person – lead singer Awsten Knight did not stay still for a second of the hour-and-a-half long show. Continuing swiftly into “Watch What Happens Next” from 2019’s FANDOM, it wasn’t long before the crowd heard new material with the band diving into “FUNERAL GREY,” a newly released song thought to be from an as-yet-unnamed upcoming album. It speaks for the dedication of Waterparks’ fanbase to say that it was received with exactly the same excitement as material that was years older.
Halfway through the set, things descended into what could only be described as chaos. The crowd began to serenade Knight with a round of “Happy Birthday” which, instead of questioning, he conducted with half of the crowd singing four seconds later than the rest. The band also took requests at this point, which they soon regretted when a crowd member requested “Baby Shark.” When guitarist Geoff Wigington started playing along though, it turned into a memorable moment, uniting the entire crowd and forming a circle pit.
The band soon pulled the concert back to schedule, launching into “I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore,” a song that brought Waterparks to mainstream fame. A particularly enjoyable feature of the show was its spontaneity, with the audience requests continuing into “Fruit Roll Ups” off the most recent album Greatest Hits. It was endearing, adding more personality and joy to the gig – it’s always nice to see a performance that you know isn’t a carbon copy of the other dates on the tour. The entire time, it felt like I wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen next.
The setlist itself was a combination of all four of the band’s studio albums, a mix bound to please old and new fans alike. This was clearly a fact that excited Knight, with him stopping to ask the crowd at several points how many of them were at their first Waterparks show, and explaining that the last time they played in Amsterdam, it was next door in the Melweg Oude Zaal, a room with half the capacity. Tonight, they had sold out a 1,500-capacity venue.
Despite the upbeat nature of the setlist, Waterparks also excel at the quieter moments. A perfect example of this was “Lucky People” from their second album Entertainment. Inviting the crowd to get up onto each other's shoulders and turn on their phone torches, the whole room unified. Whether it was the size of the crowd, the fanbase, or the band themselves, there was a massive sense of community in the audience.
The band finished their set with “Numb,” an angry, anthemic tribute to individuality: “You’re either dying or you’re playing/Either way I’m in the conversation.” After barely a minute of being offstage, they came back to play the encore, ending the show with the thundering “Turbulent” and leaving me with no doubt whatsoever that Waterparks live up to the hype.