Following their latest album release Intellectual Property, which bagged them their first ever top-ten on the UK album charts, Waterparks played in Sheffield, marking the final show of The Property Tour 2023. Lucy Redfern reviews.
After following the band for around five years now, I finally saw the alternative/pop-punk Texan trio with members; Awsten Knights (frontman), Otto Wood(drummer) and Geoff Wiginton (guitar), firsthand. Even though I was a Waterparks first-timer, admittedly the band's reputation gave me a pretty clear assumption as to what to expect walking into the gig. Within the pop-punk community, it's pretty well known that you won’t get through a Waterparks gig without Awsten going on at least one ten-minute-long sidetracked ramble or spending fifteen minutes trying to teach himself how to play Wonderwall for the first time mid-set. This gig was absolutely no exception to the frontman’s entertainingly unhinged antics.
Aside from Awsten’s random between-song chats and anecdotes, the band brought a great show to Sheffield which contrasted acoustic segments with high energy, CO2-canon-accompanied bangers, incorporating songs from every album into their diverse setlist. Really getting the crowd jumping from the get go, the band opened with ST*ARFUCKER; a high energy single from their latest album, really setting the tone for the gig.
"Shifting the lighting to a hue of colours, the song provided a singalong classic for Waterparks and Heartstopper fans alike."
Back in 2020, Waterparks scored their first major TV show soundtrack, as Telephone appeared in episode 3 of hit LGBTQ UK romcom Heartstopper. ‘Last year we did some real band shit and wrote a song for a TV show,’ Awsten announced to the crowd. ‘Any Heartstopper fans?’ he questioned to a sea of cheers. Shifting the lighting to a hue of colours, the song provided a singalong classic for Waterparks and Heartstopper fans alike.
Waterparks’ biggest differentiating factor from other pop-punk bands is definitely their unparalleled ability to interact with the crowd. At one point Awsten ditched the pyrotechnics and electric guitars for an acoustic segment where he let the audience pick the songs he’d play. The band seemed to have no problem recalling songs from as early as their first album back in 2016, banging out request after request from the crowd.
Never have I been to an alt gig in Sheffield where the crowd hasn’t broken out into a ‘Yorkshire chant.’ It’s clear the Texan trio really know their audience, purposefully riling up the crowd and then using the chant as a tactic to open up the biggest circle pit of the night during one of the bands more niche songs, Crave. ‘It’s no surprise everyone here’s so miserable when every street you step foot on looks like it could be haunted,’ Awsten poked at the clearly patriotic, home-town crowd. But it's clearly all in the name of a fun show, the genuineness being explicit as the band thanked the crowd for supporting them and enabling them to be where they are now.
The band closed off the show with a three-song encore, including fan favourite track Turbulent. Living up to its hype, the song provided pits and crowd surfing, bringing the gig to a suitably high energy end.
Lucy Redfern
Edited by Tabitha Smith
Featured Image courtesy of Jawn via Instagram
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