Waterparks, live at The Dome.

did they make a splash?

Waterparks' website.	"I’m standing outside The Dome in Camden. It’s early September, the air is still muggy and it shows from the kind bouncers handing out bottles of water to each person passing through the ribboned gates. As soon as I get in the heat cranks up even further, attendees packed in , all desperate to catch a glance at the band on stage. I’m late so the opening band has been and gone, Waterparks standing on the stage like figures in a trophy case, and in a sea of hands and phones I can almost see them. As the performance unfolds it’s apparent that the platform they inhabit is far too small to contain the chaos these three men intend to cause. Awsten Knight, with his speaking voice akin to sandpaper, commands the crowd like a puppeteer with a charm that I wish could be bottled. They break out into one of their most popular songs “Turbulent”, Otto the drummer flinging his sticks at the snares like he’s mad at them, Geoff and Awsten flying around the stage making believe they’re Tinkerbell on half a tank of gas. Every line Awsten points the mic at the audience, so frequently that the venue should be paying the fans for their contribution to the performance. Still it’s surreal to see them in real life, the band whose picture from Kerrang! found a home next to my mirror when I was fourteen."

"I’m standing outside The Dome in Camden. It’s early September, the air is still muggy and it shows from the kind bouncers handing out bottles of water to each person passing through the ribboned gates. As soon as I get in the heat cranks up even further, attendees packed in , all desperate to catch a glance at the band on stage. I’m late so the opening band has been and gone, Waterparks standing on the stage like figures in a trophy case, and in a sea of hands and phones I can almost see them. As the performance unfolds it’s apparent that the platform they inhabit is far too small to contain the chaos these three men intend to cause.

Awsten Knight, with his speaking voice akin to sandpaper, commands the crowd like a puppeteer with a charm that I wish could be bottled. They break out into one of their most popular songs “Turbulent”, Otto the drummer flinging his sticks at the snares like he’s mad at them, Geoff and Awsten flying around the stage making believe they’re Tinkerbell on half a tank of gas.

Every line Awsten points the mic at the audience, so frequently that the venue should be paying the fans for their contribution to the performance. Still it’s surreal to see them in real life, the band whose picture from Kerrang! found a home next to my mirror when I was fourteen."

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