Concerts are more than just music — they always have been. Fans wait outside venues before the sun even gets there so they can hold on to that barricade and have a front row seat to the show that is about to change their life. These music lovers hold fan meetups, make friendship bracelets, buy merch and post their experiences online.
Then, after the show, they don’t tell their friends “Goodbye,” they say “See you tomorrow.”
No, they’re not going home; instead, they’re off to the next city for another show on the same tour, ready to experience everything all over again.
Fans following bands on tour — which is another way to say people who attend multiple dates of the same tour — is something especially sacred and should be cherished, not put down. These fans support their favorite bands and artists of their own volition and hard work, and simply want to extend their fun experience by travelling to different states, cities, countries and more with their friends by their side. It takes a certain type of privilege to have enough money and time off to properly and safely follow a tour, but when one is able to do it, there’s truly no feeling like it.
There are hundreds of reasons to attend multiple concerts for the same artist. Maybe you want to visit friends in other cities; maybe there’s a rotating setlist or a Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour-style surprise song; maybe you just simply want to. In reality, no one needs a reason to do anything.
Music is a safe space for so many people in marginalized communities, and wanting to feel seen and heard for a week straight at your favorite band’s shows should be encouraged, not looked down on.
A lot of fangirl stigma comes from the negatively-connotated term “groupie” and the shame that floats around it. A groupie is someone, typically a woman, who follows a celebrity or band around, with hopes to sleep with them. While misogynistic, offensive and outdated, the term is still one that hovers over the music scene to this day. Women who like a band enough to go to more than one show, or those who are lucky enough to meet them before or after the concert itself, are reduced solely to their sex drives and relationships — whether one is wanted or not.
With all of this being said, going to more than one date on a band’s tour doesn’t make anyone a groupie with ill-intentions nor a bigger, more important fan at all. Anyone who buys a ticket, streams the music or engages in any sort of support toward an artist is a perfectly legitimate fan. If following tours became less stigmatized, the competitive aspect of fan culture in online communities would likely be diminished.
Many fans keep countdowns on their phones letting them know how long they have to wait until they can see their favorite band and friends again, and it feels so good knowing it all won’t be over in one night, but you actually have eight more to look forward to.
This was my experience going to nine dates on Waterparks’ Prowler Tour this past winter.
Attending nine dates of tour was no small feat and definitely cost a pretty penny to do so, but, as mentioned above, I do this with a lot of hard work under my belt to see online friends that I only am able to see at concerts and to experience new places I most likely wouldn’t go to otherwise. I started my Waterparks tour the same way the band did: opening night in San Antonio. After three Texas dates in a row, I went back to school and work while Waterparks performed a couple nights in Florida and Georgia, then I rejoined them in the upper-East Coast, going with them from D.C. to Norfolk to Philadelphia to Brooklyn. After roughly a month break for myself to finish college and graduate, I flew out west to link up with Waterparks two more unforgettable times in 2025: Las Vegas and closing night in Los Angeles.
Waterparks, an alternative-rock trio from Texas, announced the 27-date Prowler Tour back in July much to fans’ surprise. The tour helped usher in a brand new era for the band, with Waterparks playing unreleased songs and teasing their upcoming sixth studio album that is nearly complete. The Prowler Tour was different from any other Waterparks tour, with much more fan interaction (and if you know Waterparks, then you know they already interact quite frequently) and acoustic surprise songs that got more chaotic and niche as the tour went along.
Awsten Knight (vocals, guitar), Geoff Wigington (guitar) and Otto Wood (drums) crafted a tour so unique and captivating that it made it easy for dozens of fans to want to experience it more than once. There were multiple moments at each show where Knight asked one lucky audience member to pick between two songs for the band to play, like a choose-your-own-adventure for the show. Knight also took many fan requests off of phone signs and hilariously decorated posters when he pulled out his acoustic guitar, meaning songs that weren’t on this year’s setlist or potentially songs that have never been played live before were finally given a chance. This means no show on the Prowler Tour was even remotely the same, giving fans that incentive to go to more than just one.
Sean Cline, who is from Ohio, attended 15 dates of Waterparks’ the Prowler Tour, and says this was their favorite tour they’ve ever attended. Spending nearly a year putting money away toward a concert fund allowed Cline to bounce around the country seeing Waterparks with their friends, even adding an extra show on the East Coast at the last minute to see long-distance friends one more time.
“I personally love the friendship and community of tour following,” Cline said. “I love getting to see the band that many times, of course, but I also love getting to visit my friends that live in different cities and see them as much as possible…so many of us are so spread out and the shows are the best opportunity for everyone to be together.”
Joining Cline on their road trip across the country, Juliana Harman of Nevada managed to fit in one more Prowler date than their friend, attending 16 total during the six-week tour run. Similarly to Cline, Harman saved up money for months to be able to afford this tour, and said that although it sounds cliche, it was a “cathartic experience” to be able to scream the lyrics of their favorite band’s songs every night.
Attending multiple dates on the same tour is nothing new to Waterparks or to their fans, with Knight being a big push in why fans want to attend as many as possible. The Prowler Tour saw many different opener combinations throughout the nearly two-month duration, including Jhariah, Chloe Moriondo, Heart Attack Man, I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, The Plain White T’s and more. Knight has stated that he stacks their tour openers like this for a reason: to give those who go to more than one show a different experience every single night.
Fans also get a whole new experience at any show when standing in different parts of the venue, but this is especially true for Waterparks. You can stand in the very back to get a full view of the entire crowd and stage set up, marveling at the visuals and stage presence. Alternatively, you can join that crowd and mosh, jump, scream and crowdsurf all night — things Waterparks highly encourage at their shows. If you prefer being at the very front, then camp out for barricade and hold up crowdsurfers as they cross your path. When you go to multiple dates, you can see the show from every single perspective, making it that much more enjoyable.
The way Waterparks approaches their fanbase and continues to give them an unforgettable experience is something that should be celebrated a little more loudly. The band holds a VIP opportunity at every date of tour where fans can enter the venue early and engage in a meet and greet with Waterparks, along with a professional photo that is sent to fans a few days later. An affordable VIP with artist interaction is becoming something of a rarity these days, but Waterparks keeps their prices as low as they can while welcoming in roughly 150 fans for this VIP experience. Knight, Wigington and Wood give each fan their full attention at these meet and greets, offering advice and engaging in inside jokes with them.
One fan, who attended multiple dates, had a funny interaction with Knight regarding her Twenty One Pilots tattoo. The fan’s individual tree drawing tattoo is for the Grammy-winning duo’s 2025 song “Cottonwood,” but Knight jokingly said at her meet and greet that it was really for their iconic 2013 song “Trees” and insinuated the fan got the tattoo wrong because there’s supposed to be more than one tree to match the plural title. After a few online back-and-forths, the fan got another tree tattoo next to the elegant cottonwood, but this new tree was drawn by Knight himself. It is experiences like this that many Waterparks fans cherish, and show how the band makes every moment memorable for each individual person.
Tattoos are a special way for people to commemorate something special and dear to their heart, and for music lovers that tends to be lyrics or symbols of a song. Knight makes it a point to craft lyrics that he can 100% see as being permanent tattoos one day, and knows how special they can be to fans. After shows, you can catch all three members of the band writing fan-requested tattoos out in their handwriting. More frequently, however, Knight asked fans to comment on social media posts what words, lyrics or drawings they wanted and he would write it for them before he left for the 3-hour meet and greet ahead. Knight wrote hundreds of tattoos this way while on tour, writing them on the back of VIP posters so a lucky fan or two each night would go home with a poster and a tattoo sheet in one.
Waterparks isn’t the first band to encourage concertgoers to attend more than one date, and is certainly not the last — however, they exceed among their peers in cultivating an environment so welcoming and safe that it’s hard to not want to be in that space as much as you possibly can.
Heather Little flew from Scotland to the United States just to see Waterparks and meet online friends for the very first time. This was the farthest Little has ever traveled on her own, but she used this as an “opportunity” to not only see her favorite band perform, but to experience brand new cities and sights she had never seen before.
“I have never felt more love and passion than at these Waterparks shows,” Little said. “When I met the band in New York City, Awsten said to me, ‘I’m glad you got to see so many shows.’ As a fangirl who follows many tours, hearing the lead singer of your favourite band say this is really validating.”
Concerts are way more than just music — they let people freely be themselves in a room of others who get it the same way they do. They even act as traditions for people to go to see their online friends or to make new friends with those in line. In a world like the one we live in today, it’s important to find anything and everything that makes you feel happy and safe, and for many people that is inside a concert venue with their favorite band.
Once is never enough, and if you get the chance: go see that band you love in concert. And then, go see them again. And again.
Waterparks is currently finishing up their sixth studio album and will embark on a UK/EU tour in the spring.
Get tickets to the UK/EU Prowler Tour: here.
Keep up with Waterparks:
Website / Spotify / Apple Music / Instagram / X / TikTok / YouTube
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