Waterparks - Fandom: Live In The UK
Today, Waterparks first concert film is released. It was filmed at the start of the year, before the world descended into chaos, as part of their Fandom tour in Birmingham. I thought it was really cool that the band decided to record their film in the UK, it shows that the shows they’ve played here have stuck out for them.
Fandom was one of my favourite albums of the year last year and over time I have grown to love it more. The production is incredible and the lyrics are heartfelt and very direct. This being the third album for the band, the first on a new label, they felt it was time to record their own film. The members of the band have talked about growing up watching concert DVD’s such as Life On The Murder Scene (My Chemical Romance), The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (Blink-182), Louder Now (Taking Back Sunday) and always wanting to make their own.
On Tuesday night the band hosted a live premiere of the film online with a chat and q&a with Waterparks and co-director, editor, Jawn Rocha as well. It was an incredible chance to watch the film before it came out, as I had been waiting to watch the full thing before going and watching any of the videos posted on YouTube by the band. It was also really cool to have a chance to hear more from the band about why they wanted to make this film and what the process of editing it through lockdown was like.
The band wanted to make the film more of a watching experience for anyone who would see the film, so as well as being an incredible live concert video, there were also loads of visual effects added to amplify certain things in each song.
The concert itself was great, the energy the band have is incredible and the set list included all but one song I would’ve wanted to hear, but we can’t have everything. Honestly though the setlist is great, there are loads of songs from Fandom and some favourites from previous albums Double Dare and Entertainment. The band also played their 2019 remixes of both of those albums, where the albums are condensed into about 9 minutes each showing the best parts. That’s also a really good way of adding a lot of songs that people would want to hear to the setlist without taking up too much time.
The performance was everything you’d want from Waterparks, it was high energy and euphoric but there was also moments of emotion and calm within that. I would encourage you to watch this film or the videos that are on YouTube if you want to see some of what I’m talking about. Jawn Rocha did an amazing job with the visuals on the whole film. There are some really obvious moments that jump out to you, and add to the experience, but there are also more subtle moments of visual effects that are blink and you miss them, but are still as incredible to look at.
Overall this concert film is everything you’d want if you are a fan of Waterparks. I think the band chose a really good gig to film on a great tour and it’s a really special way to finish of the Fandom era. Go and listen to Fandom if you haven’t, maybe I’ll write a full write up on the album one day as there are so many cool parts to the album that make me keep coming back to it. I would also really recommend watching this concert film, I think it’s going to be another one of those that I keep coming back to over the next few years.
Track-listing:
Cherry Red
Watch What Happens Next
Blonde
Dream Boy
Double Dare 2019
High Definition
Worst
War Crimes
[Reboot]
Easy To Hate
Lucky People
21 Questions
Group Chat
I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore
Zone Out
I Felt Younger When We Met
Entertainment 2019
Stupid For You
Turbulent
Thank you for reading, until next time…
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