Waterparks & Greywind - Live in photographs
Greywind
With the audience filling and the lights going down it was time for the opening band at the Kentish Town Forum on the 26th March.
Greywind were quick to the stage, starting out with a bang, dressed up and ready to put on a show. The crowd quickly picked up the enthusiasm and joined in with the band singing choruses back and jumping with beat. Song two I.K.A.M.F had the Irish emo band using the whole stage, with singer Steph capturing everyone’s attention. Her body movement going from fluid to jaunted as she took over the stage, from right to left, all while singing perfectly and in time. Their songs perfected to be performed with theatrically and with audiences in mind. Your my medicine is a notable song because of this, having a catchy chorus and plenty of drama. This combines with their performance and costuming meant the crowd would have had a hard time to look away, they were throughly entranced.
Greywind during I.K.A.M.F at Kentish Town Forum, London
As a photographer this made them such a joy to shoot, the energy, theatre and atmosphere created is such fun to capture. Seeing the band and the audience interact, as well as Steph the lead singer interacting with photographers in the pit showed off just how much the show has been made to entertain and include absolutely everyone.
That was Greywind.
Greywind are Steph and Paul O'Sullivan. With touring crew members: Jake Rodgers and Inaxio Abecia.
Waterparks
Waterparks ended their Prowler EU/UK tour in London at the Kentish Town Forum this week, and boy did they go out with one heck of a show.
Before they even stepped on stage, and after Greywind the opener had performed the tech desk lit up with “the Waterparks show”. The 90s theming for the tech screensavers pulled back to the pop punk influences and music of their early career and put a smile on the face of the fans that noticed before they went on, with many stopping to take a photo.
By the time Waterparks were scheduled to go on, the crowd was finally filled and a buzz was about the room. With photographers in the photo pit in the front of the stage, everyone was ready to go. The waiting music, which notably included twenty one pilots and my chemical romance sparked conversations between photographer and fans, many speaking then about set lists and song guesses. With the music then fading, around 15 minutes late, Waterparks took to the stage with a blast of energy.
Awsten Knight, Waterparks, London Kentish Town
Their performance was sectioned within the set list, allowing for songs to flow naturally between each other and giving distinct feelings which were mirrored by not only the tone but lighting. They kicked off with HAPPINESS//SADNESS, with Blonde, Sneaking out of heaven, and Fuck About it being the opening three songs.
Blonde kicked the crowd into gear immediately, an older song from their Entertainment album. The song quickly builds itself and the crowd flow with it, the front row jumping up and down already in time with the drums. With only two members of the band moving, Geoff and Awsten, the guitarist and singer/guitarist respectively, they quickly showed that they knew how to use a stage to its fullest. Bounding and bouncing back and forth, almost unhinged energy flowing from the band, especially singer Awsten Knight. If you’ve ever heard him in interviews and been a fan for a while, you’d understand that’s it’s a perfectly executed plan for the feeling and energy of the shows. With strong vocals, rapid movement and bold song choices starting the set with an immediate energy almost unmatched in crowds of recent years in some scenes.
Awsten Knight, Waterparks, Kentish Town Forum, London
Wateparks clearly know how to put a show on, getting everyone gripped to their every move hook line and sinker. The die hard fans who had been quing all day, and the photographers in the pit all hit with that infectious energy. You hardly knew where to point a camera, between the band moving around in front, the crowd going nuts behind and trying to find a way for both. Many photographers not being able to help but gravitate towards Knight in the centre of the stage.
Crowd surfers at Kentish Town Forum, London
After a strong start their set dividers appeared, with pre filmed transitions allowing the crowd a moment of downtime to catch their breath. With that they then jumped into a selection of what felt like greatest hits. This just shows how many strong and well known songs the band has, including Telephone, Stupid for You, Dream Boy and Funeral Grey, many which have been widely known despite Waterparks lack of immediate mainstream success.
Geoff Wigington, Wateparks, Kentish Town Forum, London
From this they then moved onto a new section of the set, which worked allowing fans to pick which songs from options that they played that night. Giving control to the room and the people they are playing to. This began with High Definition, where they stripped the set right back, allowing for an acoustic guitar and knight on stage only for their slower more sad songs. During this time they had a quick and un flapped tech working on stage fixing knight’s acoustic guitar on him from behind. Awsten quickly took a hold of the situation, distracting many while he spoke with the crowd about the upcoming songs and letting us pick what was next. Kentish Town got a whole mix, with a small medley of sorts with songs like You’d Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out to Get You), 11:11, Dizzy and BRAINWASHED notably being played despite them not being general acoustic songs. The audience then picked 21 Questions over Lucky People, which from the balcony showed a line of recording phones and torches all up as people soaked in the feelings and emotions of it all.
Slowly other members of the band joined, and the set picked the energy back up as a new section was started. Songs like RED GUITAR and IF LYRICS WERE CONFIDENTIAL despite being relatively new all had the crowd screaming along and bouncing around, with moshing starting to happen again, in quite possibly the friendliest way possible. RED GUITAR had knight bring out a brand new guitar, aptly a red Gibson flying V which was used for this song only. The striking colour and shape proudly stood out as knight lifted it above him, causing the crowd to go wild once again.
Awsten Knight, Waterparks, Kentish Town Forum, London
When we get to the ANGER section, songs like TANTRUM were brought out. The song has only increased its impact over time, I saw tantrum performed live for the first time back in 2019, and it’s only gotten better over time, the moshing and crowd surfing increased ten fold. From the mixing desk during tantrum and most of the ANGER segments you could see the volume peaking and decibels hitting a red caution because of how loud it got. It’s clear to see the songs in this section being a vessel for everyone to sing and use to release any anger or frustration, a catharsis for everyone. This was further supported with the band doing a booing session for everyone as well mixed in between songs. Dispite this the energy never left and the show ended on a high, more jumping, singing, moshing and crowds surfing all increasing tenfold as the set drew to a close.
As the final notes rung out in the room, everyone in the pit staggered to get their breath back, slowly the adrenaline coming down as people started making a move to the stage for the chance at a set list or crowded around the merchandise table. The venue slowly stared to clear out, and the overwhelming feeling left from the crowd is that when Waterparks come back to the uk again, everyone will want to come back.
This was Waterparks.
Waterparks are Awsten Knight, Geoff Wigington and Otto Wood.
