Fans screamed as Awsten Knight jumped off the stage and right onto the barricade in London during “LIKE IT,” the last song on the setlist. The blonde-and-pink-haired singer whipped his arm out to grab the crowd surfers riding the wave of frantic hands to the front, guiding them safely down and giving them a moment to cherish at the same time.
Then, as the song ended, Waterparks waved goodbye and the lights came on. Venue staff and the band’s crew started breaking down the stage, ushering fans out — and just like that, the Prowler Tour had finally come to a close.
Waterparks, a band of many genres and sounds, spent the entirety of March overseas on their long-awaited international leg of the Prowler Tour. Starting in Munich, Germany, and concluding in London, England, this leg made 14 stops around Europe, bringing their iconic stage presence to each city. No matter where you see Waterparks, it’s sure to be a unique experience, and the European shows are no exception.
As someone who was privileged to be able to see this tour in both the US and the UK, witnessing firsthand how this tour has grown and evolved has been extra special.
The North American leg of the Prowler Tour made its debut in Texas in the fall of 2025 and visited 27 cities over the span of two months before wrapping up in Los Angeles in December. The Texas trio of Awsten Knight (vocals, guitar), Geoff Wigington (guitar) and Otto Wood (drums) have been successfully gathering hype and suspense at every stop for their sixth studio album that is set to release sometime this year. Between teasing four new tracks from the unreleased album and pulling out deep cuts from ten years ago, they make sure that there’s something for everyone in this tour’s setlist.
Although Waterparks has made two festival appearances in the UK in the past two years, performing at Slam Dunk Festival in May 2024 and Reading & Leeds in August 2025, the band has not toured outside the US since the fall of 2023. Needless to say, the international fans have been itching to get their turn once more to experience this live show. The energy in the room before the band even came out felt electric, with nearly three years of pent-up energy ready to burst as soon as the lights went down.
It is remarkable to see the stark contrast between the darker themes of religious guilt seen in the last European tour for their fifth studio album INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY and the hopeful, anticipatory nature of the current tour. The Property Tour didn’t disappoint with its hard-hitting alternative rock vibes and lore-driven storytelling, with Knight rocking bright red makeup and outfits to match the theme. A Waterparks show at its core will always have that raw, explosive energy to it, but the emphasis on all of the different emotions involved in the Prowler shows break it up in a completely different way than what they’ve ever done before. This is truly Waterparks at their best and most authentic, and experiencing any show of this tour will prove just that.
Crave touched down in Glasgow, Scotland — a few days before the tour’s closing date — to capture the excitement building up inside the Barrowlands as fans prepared to reunite with their favorite band for the first time in three years.
Despite joining the tour at the last minute, the Ireland-based opening band Greywind captured the audience immediately with their song “You’re My Medicine” and kept the energy going for the duration of the set. This sibling duo of Steph (vocals) and Paul O’Sullivan (guitar) were joined by Jake Roger (guitar) and Inaxio Abecia (drums) to complete their touring band lineup. Steph O’Sullivan is a true performer, with breathtaking vocals in every song and cheeky fan interactions snuck in between them. Even with slower songs like their hit “In Autumn,” the beautiful instrumentation slowly built up to a high-energy finish paired with O’Sullivan’s intensely emotional vocals.
They finished their set with “Waterfall” off of their new album Severed Heart City that was released in January. O’Sullivan even jumped down to join the crowd up against the barricade and sang directly to them, soaking up every bit of energy the audience gave her. Greywind had the perfect rock vibe to get the venue buzzing as the stage was set for Waterparks to begin. Before long the lights went down once again, the atmosphere thick with anticipation.
The large screen along the back wall of the stage projected clips from each album era as the tour intro began, ending with “The Waterparks Show” displayed boldly as the bass kicked in and the band took the stage.The trio immediately brought in the energy with fan-favorite “Blonde” off of their second album Entertainment. Without pause, the next two songs keep the crowd hyped up with “SNEAKING OUT OF HEAVEN” and “FUCK ABOUT IT” rounding out the first section of the set.
The base setlist between the US and the EU/UK tours stayed consistent, allowing the international fans the chance to hear songs on this stacked setlist, some of which haven’t been played in several years. The show was broken up into sections, each themed around a specific emotion: Happiness, Sadness, Anticipation and Anger. This unique way of grouping the band’s discography created perfect pockets within the set to let the fans truly feel all of the emotions attached to them. They were split up by a projection on the screen of a man speaking to the crowd about each of these emotions and how they have affected the band in the process of making the songs.
The Happiness section featured fan favorites “Stupid For You,” “Dream Boy” and “FUNERAL GREY,” and was the first section that became interactive with the crowd. Knight picked one lucky member of the crowd to choose between either “Peach (Lobotomy)” or “Telephone,” with the fan enthusiastically yelling for the latter. Next up was the Sadness portion, which had many fans holding their friends tight as they screamed the words to the songs that have felt like therapy to them, such as “High Definition” and “I Felt Younger When We Met.” The second fan choice option here was between two fan-favorites “Not Warriors” and “Gloom Boys,” where the former ultimately won the vote.
Halfway through the show, Wigington and Wood exited the stage, leaving Knight alone with his acoustic guitar. This was infamously the point of the show where any song was up for grabs if Knight was in the mood for it that night, whether it be an unreleased demo he’d never played before or a fan-favorite deep cut that deserved its time in the sun. Fans held up their favorite songs typed out on their phones and on paper signs, hoping to get theirs played as he scanned the crowd. At this particular show he decided on “You’d Be Paranoid Too,” “Sleep Alone,” “Royal,” “Rare” and “CALL ME BEEP ME.”
With only two sections left in the set, the band rejoined the stage and brought the energy level up to 100 as the Anticipation section showcased four of the songs set to be on their next album: “IF LYRICS WERE CONFIDENTIAL,” “RED GUITAR,” “ANY MINUTE NOW” and the unreleased “PROWLER.” The moshing hits an all time high during “PROWLER,” which certainly earned her spot as a new fan-favorite despite the band only playing the first minute of the unreleased song during the set.
With only the Anger section left, Knight yelled at the crowd to double the crowd surfing, make bigger mosh pits, and jump higher than anyone has yet — and the crowd certainly delivered. This section was all about explosive energy, leaving no time to breathe between “TANTRUM,” “REAL SUPER DARK” and “Turbulent,” arguably some of the heaviest hitting songs in their arsenal. Intense graphics flashed across the large background screen and cryo smoke filled the stage as fans gave Waterparks the rest of the energy they had left. Immediately after the band walked off the stage, the crowd chanted for more, prompting the man on the screen to return for one last message: to bring the energy for one final song.
Waterparks returned for an encore of “LIKE IT,” where Knight sat on the edge of the stage, grabbing the hands of crowdsurfers as they glided up to him at the barricade. The band thanked the crowd one last time before exiting for good, leaving the crowd in awe as they shuffled out to find their friends and debrief on the extreme highs of the night.
On the surface, the two legs of the Prowler Tour don’t seem all that different, but experiencing them both firsthand proved just how unique each show really is. The crowd truly does play a huge role in this tour, whether it’s picking songs to play or just contributing to the overall vibes within the crowd. Simply put, this show would not exist without the fans at the core of everything. It is rare to see this level of trust between a band and their fanbase to be able to play off of each other in the way that Waterparks does with such ease every night. During the UK shows specifically, the warm welcome the band received as soon as they returned was so special to witness and the banter between them was even more entertaining. International fans and American fans alike are already hopeful for their quick return as soon as their new album is released.
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