LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: WATERPARKS AT THE O2 FORUM KENTISH TOWN, LONDON 26/03/26 (+ GREYWIND)
After only few months after their last, albeit intimate show in London, Houston’s trio Waterparks returned in the heart of Camden for their last show of their PROWLER tour, which brought them across the pond for a series of shows, concluding with a memorable night at the O2 Forum Kentish Town. With a curated and fan-focused setlist and striking visuals combined with their genre-bending allure, The Waterparks Show, as it was affectionately dubbed, was undoubtedly an experience that would be hard to forget for those in attendance.
The night kicked off with Irish emo band Greywind, whom they just published their latest album SEVERED HEART CITY just a couple of months ago. With a style that was reminiscing of Debbie Harry meets Vivienne Westwood but with her own unique spin, frontwoman Steph O’Sullivan with her powerful and energetic vocals, flawlessly commanded the stage and the crowd. Her confidence and theatrical expression made their whole set mesmerising, leaving the crowd captivated.
After the first three and very energetic songs of the set, ‘You’re My Medicine’, ‘I.K.A.M.F.’ and ‘Here’s Your Deathwish’, Steph introduced the slow and introspective ‘In Autumn’ as a song that changed their lives after going viral on Tiktok, and invited the crowd to get their phone lights up.
Before going into their second half of the set, Steph invited the crowd to give it up for her brother Paul O’Sullivan on guitar, who is the other half of Greywind, and then for the other two touring members, other guitarist Jake Rodger and Inaxio Abecia on drums.
The crowd was completely won over and the loud cheering and clapping along continued for the last two songs ‘Antidote’ and ‘Waterfall’. It seems that the talented Greywind are in for a busy season, they will be touring performing an acoustic set with Emo Orchestra and The Spill Canvas in the Us this April and May and they will then support Tonight Alive on their EU and UK tour in May and then they will be playing 2000 Trees festival in July, so there’s plenty of opportunities to catch them live again.
As soon as the lights went down again, an introductory video invited everyone to ‘The Waterparks Show’, the crowd’s roar meant only one thing, they were more than ready. Boasting on stage with ‘Blonde’ with videogame-like visuals, it was clear that we were all in for a treat. The jumping, dancing, clapping along and crowdsurfing continued for ‘Sneaking Out of Heaven’ and ‘Fuck About It’ before singer Awsten Knight took the mic to say “London, what is going on, so glad to be back with you tonight, thank you so much for coming and making the last night of the tour so special!”.
The set was split into sections, each of them depicting “The four primary emotions that make humans tick: happiness, sadness, anticipation and anger” and each of them were subsequently introduced by a short clip outlining them as they all tallied up to the band’s repertoire and their ability to convey the emotional chaos through their music.
The first section depicting Happiness saw the crowd singing back every word to ‘Stupid For You’ before Awsten took the mic again to address the audience “You guys should pick some songs tonight, the choices are Telephone and Peaches”, the fans were cheering and shouting both titles, until he pointed at a fan in the crowd and asked directly to choose - the winner was ‘Telephone’. ‘Dream Boy’ and ‘Funeral Grey’ followed, and the crowd could not seem to have enough, with CO2 cannons, colourful visuals a crowdsurfers being corollary additions, they kept singing back every single word, jumping and dancing their hearts out.
The Sadness section saw the lights being dimmed, with a spotlight on Awsten sat on one of the stage benches, he invited the fans to have their phone lights out and sway their arms whilst he sang ‘High Definition’.
It seems that the fans were at heart of this tour and setlist, as showcased by giving the chance again to choose the next song, the battle was between ‘Not Warriors’ and ‘Gloom Boys’, once again a fan in the audience was called in by Awsten to make the choice, between loads of cheering and a little disappointment for ‘Gloom Boys’, ‘Not Warriors’ won.
Once again, Awsten took the mic, this time to deliver the news we were all waiting for, as confirmed by the crowd erupting in the loudest cheer you could possibly hear all night: the next Waterparks album is done and will be out this year; he added “We’ll be coming back here so thank you for sticking with us as it’s been 3 years since the last album, we really appreciate having a full room here tonight!” before concluding with “Do you mind if we play one of my favourite Waterparks song? This one is ‘Crybaby’!”
Immersed in the neon lights and dark atmosphere, the fans were transported into the deep waves of vulnerability with the melancholic vibes of the song, however the energy soon picked up with ‘I Felt Younger When We Met’.
Shortly after the lights dimmed and saw guitarist Geoff Wigington and drummer Otto Wood leaving the stage and Awsten appearing centre stage with an acoustic guitar.
By continuing to have the crowd immersed and participative of the show, Awsten has surprised us with an acoustic set which was mainly directed by the fans as they were shouting the songs they wanted to hear; these included ‘Mad All The Time’, You’d Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out to Get You)’, ‘Dizzy’, ‘Easy To Hate’, ‘I’m a Natural Blue’, ‘Brainwashed’, ’11:11’, ‘Closer’, ‘Violet!’ and ‘Rare’.
The last song of the acoustic set was the fan-favourite ’21 Questions’, which was yet again another picked by the fans, preferring it to ‘Lucky People’, and saw the rest of band joining forces back on stage for the last part of the song. This was probably one of the highlights of the night for me, as it is one of my favourite songs from the band and the way it was performed blew my mind. This part concluded with the irreverent ‘I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore’ which had the fans jumping around and dancing along once again.
Before the short video announcing the next section, Anticipation, a cheeky Awsten addressed the audience by saying “Do you mind if we show you what we’ve been working on?” The crowd boasted in a loud roar, absolutely confirming they were eager to hear the new songs. The Anticipation section of the set included all new singles that have been published so far and that are preceding the highly anticipated new Waterparks album, ‘If Lyrics Were Confidential’, ‘Red Guitar’, a snippet of ‘Prowler’ was premiered followed by ‘Any Minute Now’. Needless to say that albeit the new album is not out yet, these are already established to be fan-favourites, given the audience reaction.
Awsten took time to thank the supporting band Greywind, the venue security, the crew, the other band members and the fans, and before the last and final video of the night introducing Anger, he swiftly said “Crowdsurfing and moshpit highly encouraged!”.
For ‘Tantrum’ the crowd was literally on fire just like the visuals that accompanied the song, you could hear the floor vibrating as everyone was singing and jumping. The high energy continued with ‘Turbulent’ and then before ‘Real Super Dark’ when Awsten shouted “I need a bigger pit, more crowdsurfing, more jump up”, the loud reaction from the crowd didn’t disappoint.
The lights went dark again to what it seemed was the end of the show, the crowd was still very much hyped and with very high energy and despite the non-stop singing along and dancing all night, the fans didn’t seem tired at all, begging the band and chanting altogether “one more song” repeatedly.
Few seconds passed and the band reappeared to sing ‘Like It’ which was welcomed by the fans with another super loud cheer that reverberate the entire venue and Awsten spoiled the fans by going down to the front row amongst them to sing the encore, concluding it with “Thank you so much London, see you when the album is out” before going off stage with the rest of the band, leaving the crowd ecstatic and still full with emotions.
Whether you’re a new fan or not and whether you’ve seen Waterparks before or not, this surely was an unforgettable night for everyone involved. With the immersive production, continuous engagement with the crowd and an exquisitely curated setlist the band succeeded in blending the full spectrum of emotions with their repertoire, another confirmation of their strong bond and dedication to their fans. This unique experience left everyone hooked for what comes next for Waterparks, we know the album is coming soon as well as another tour, and it’s only a matter of counting down the days till we get to see them again.
Words by Mari D
Photos by Florelle Servageon