Pop punk outfit, Waterparks, brought their Property Tour to the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on Wednesday night as they performed to a sold out crowd.
It was just after 8pm when I got there, and almost the entire merch booth was sold out already. Leaving behind just one style of shirt, one style of hoodie, and an Awsten Knight wig. I can’t remember the last time that I’ve seen virtually an entire merch booth empty before the headliner hit the stage. Further in the venue, the general admission floor was packed all the way to the back with fans eagerly awaiting for Waterparks.
Once 8:50 rolled around all hell broke loose as the lights dimmed and the band filed out as singer, Awsten Knight, started singing “ST*RFUCKER”. With five studio albums under their belt, I found it to be notable that they managed to include songs from each album. I find that usually by the fourth or fifth album bands will start dropping songs from their earlier releases in favour of new songs, so it was nice to be able to hear things like “Royal” and “Rare” still in the touring rotation. They also managed to sneak in 8 out of 11 tracks off of their latest album Intellectual Property. The entire night was filled with movement and it felt like absolutely no one was standing still. Whether it be dancing, crowd surfing or in the multiple circle pits that occurred, it was clear that Toronto was having a blast. A highlight for me was hearing “Ritual” live. The song contains a verse that is done pretty quickly and I was wondering if it was ever going to make it on to their setlist because it might not be the easiest to execute in a live setting but Knight absolutely nailed it.
One thing I was thoroughly impressed with was the engagement Knight had with the fans. He was constantly stopping to read signs in the crowd or carry out conversations with fans screaming things at him between songs. An example of this was when a fan held up a sign asking if he could wish Rihanna a happy birthday. He asked them if it was THE Rihanna’s birthday or one of audience members’. I didn’t hear the response, but he eventually brushed it off as the crowd was toying with him again, as the crowd had trolled him earlier with another sign, and moved on. Another fan had screamed asking for a selfie, to which he paused, got close to the edge of the stage and flashed a quick pose for the camera.
Canadian bagged milk also seemed to stuck on the singer’s mind as he brought a bag out on stage saying he had finally found one and wanted to know why we had such a thing because it just didn’t make sense to him. As the night continued on it was brought up again when he got curious if anyone has ever tried throwing a bag of milk. Someone in the crowd screamed yes, and Knight asked them what they threw it at, to which they replied their ex’s car. Knight said that was a great choice as the rest of the crowd cheered. Eventually, Knight even asked if anyone in the crowd wanted to chug the bag and invited a fan on stage while jokingly telling them not to spill it because he doesn’t want to slip on stage.
Between the fan interactions and all of the bops, Waterparks’ twenty-one song set list flew by. It had felt like I’d just got there and then with a blink of an eye they were closing out their set with their hit FUNERAL GREY.
If you ever have the chance to do so, please do yourself a favour and catch Waterparks live. It’s definitely an experience. The band is currently on tour to support their fifth studio album, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, which was released earlier this year.
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Be sure to check out Embrace Presents to see what other great acts they will be bringing to Toronto this year.
