A bit late writing this review, but this past sunday I went, for the first time, to The Academy for a concert, I have been to the other venues in the Academy but never the main room.
Choice of concert this time fell to a friend of mine, who is a very big fan of this band, but they are a band I knew not a single song from going into this concert.
The concert itself was crafted remarkably well, with the setlist being sectioned out into different acts, almost like a Shakespearean play, with each act having a different corresponding emotion.
A band that would lean on the pop side of the pop punk genre, they deliver a very good concert, with a very lively and engaging show, the particular act of the show I enjoyed most was anger.
The anger section saw constant mosh pits and constant crowdsurfing, both of which I was a part of. Opposite to my friend’s major aversion to these sort of things, I dove straight in. For the last 4 songs I did nothing but mosh, lift people up crowdsurfing, and go crowdsurfing myself, which did get me a disapproving look from the security at the show, but that’s to be expected.
Stage Setup: 9/10, Waterparks use of graphics and videos on the screens that spanned behind where they were staged, including song specific designs, fitting the mood greatly, like when they had a large fire on the screen during the anger section.
Band Performance: 8/10, A very good performance from the trio, very tight playing with incredibly timekeeping for the kind of music they were playing. Extra credit for the acoustic section in the middle of the show were the lead singer took requests of any of there songs to play.
Support: 7/10, Killarney band Greywind were on support, delivery a very 00s pop punk style. A mixture of the likes of Paramore and My Chemical Romance, had they have been around during that time period, would surely have been topping sales charts.
Merchandise: 7/10, A very colourful merchandise choice, all the usual suspects, t shirts, hoodies, hats, at more or less what is standard concert merch pricing.
Crowd: 10/10, One of the few crowds I have no complaints about, which is surprising as I always find something to complain about. The crowd was very interactive, very excited and had great etiquette in the mosh pits and with crowdsurfing.
Overall: 8/10, A very fun night, despite not knowing any of their songs I had an absolute blast. Surprised at how nice the crowd was and how much interaction there was with the band and the crowd.
Next up: Belle and Sebastian 3Olympia Theatre 5/4/26
Jays Concert Blog 