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The Daily Tar Heel

I saw pop-punk band Waterparks, and they were amazing

This was proven Monday, March 6, at Waterparks’ sold-out show at Local 506.

(By the way, I’m not talking about a theme park here — Waterparks is a three-person pop-punk outfit based in Houston.)

To introduce the song “Mad All The Time,” lead singer and guitarist of Waterparks, Awsten Knight, told the crowd that he wrote that song after he dropped out of college.

After yelling “fuck school,” he noticed that I was one of the two college students in the crowd (the other one was my best friend).

“You’ll do great, or whatever,” Knight said.

Awsten, I now hold you entirely responsible for my GPA for the next three years.

The show opened with a Durham-based band, The Second After.

The band is a staple in the Triangle pop-punk scene — I’ve seen Alfred Williamson, one of their guitarists, attend almost every show I’ve been to in the past couple of years.

The Second After was followed by Chapel, a newer band that has perfected blending sounds from both the indie and pop-punk genres.

Then came Too Close To Touch, a post-hardcore band from Kentucky and the co-headliner for this tour.

They definitely went the hardest and encouraged crowdsurfing (but at this show I wasn’t kicked in the head).

When Waterparks finally came out to do their set, I thought I was going to die from either excitement (or from being super sweaty and dehydrated).

It was an emotional night.

Not only did I have a better workout than I ever did in LFIT, there were multiple times when I thought my soul had left my body.

These times include, but are not limited to the following:

1. When Knight threw water on the crowd and it felt like a baptism.

2. When Geoff Wigington, lead guitarist, sung his verse in “Crave.”

3. Basically anything Otto Wood, drummer, did.

They can honestly do no wrong, and they can only get better at making music and performing.

They have a jam-packed summer schedule, opening around the world for the bands Good Charlotte and All Time Low, so a new album is probably not in the near future, but I’m excited to see what comes next.

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@karynhbrown

swerve@dailytarheel.com