We attended the last show of the Waterparks + Stand Atlantic UK/EU tour at the octagon centre in Sheffield. Originally set for the O2 academy on 1st November, it had been moved due to the unforeseen circumstances, luckily to a Friday night. Result!
Stand Atlantic was the sole opener for the show and took to the stage with aplomb. Opening up with a personal favourite of “hair out” the drums crashed around the octagon-shaped room with the guitar powering its way through and the bass grooving along.
They gave their latest track "Sex on the Beach" a spin out, which absolutely pops off! They kept on performing their bigger hits from f.e.a.r and Pink Elephant, whilst also incorporating other single "Kill(h)er." STaT keep experimenting with their music and it's great to see a band pull it off so successfully when having tracks completely different to the others.
It was nice to see them go back to Skinny Dipping to give Lavender Bones a play, which we didn't get to hear anything that old at Download Festival. As someone who has followed them since their Sidewinder EP days, it becomes increasingly sad to know those songs have dropped off their setlist, and will only make a return once every few years now.
The energy from Bon and the band was electric, they had the crowd like putty in their hands. They organised big circle pits as well as having them shout every word back to them. They must have been the most well-received support act I have seen in a very, very long time.
I will say, I thought I was watching the headline act, they pulled that off as their own headline show. I implore you to get to a SA gig whenever you can. It was always going to be a difficult performance to follow...
Ear-piercing screeches from excited gig-goers filled the room one by one as Otto, Jeff & Awsten came onto stage, each scream louder than the last.
Instantly, Awsten was running left to right across the stage constantly all night, the energy that guy has is actually insane. He was also good at interacting with the crowd consistently joking around and keeping them on their toes. Early on in the show, Awsten mentioned his vocals are shot from previous shows, but it's not something you'd have been able to tell.
Waterparks sounded so great great, it sounded so clean and crisp but it just didn't feel loud enough, STaT's instrumentals powered through the room, but personally they seemed to have turned down the volume too much for me here.
Nonetheless, Waterparks were incredible to watch and experience. Their set was fantastic, it consisted of a few songs from each album, as well as performing 10 out of the 11 tracks from their latest album "Intellectual Propety."
Towards the end they performed a quick-fire round of all the slow/sad songs from their discography which was a really nice lead into the latter part of their set.
The Texan band finished up on "Funeral Grey" which seems to be the most popular song off their latest album which gave the show, and tour, a wonderful atmospheric send off.
We will certainly be catching them at Slam Dunk Festival 2024.
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