I have been a photographer at AB on numerous occasions this year, and even if I can swear a lot, I haven’t heard a frontman like Awsten Knight (from Waterparks), wearing a Bad girl pink hat, swearing so much on a stage like yesterday. The pop-punk band was a bit of a new discovery for me, as I didn’t listen to their songs before seeing their show announced at AB, and quite a challenge once again with their lighting. The startkick was “ST*RFUCKER”, which is also the first song of their newest album “Intellectual property”, followed by “Numb” and “Rare”. Imagine the frustration and the disappointment to see the lights improving by the second part of the show. Muscwise, it was not really my cup of tea, but the young crowd were enjoying themselves a lot, singing along in almost every song. The band even asked for a mosh pit, a request that was methodically executed by the audience on a couple of occasions, holding themselves not to jump in the middle until Awsten gave them the OK.
Stand Atlantic was the guest of the night, opening their set with Hair out, and continued throughout their performance with a bunch of energetic tracks that made us almost sweat trying to get some killer shots of frontwoman Bonnie Fraser, or their guitar player David Potter, who made me feel sick just by looking at all the turning motion he was adding to his playing skills. The time to slow it down came during “bloodclot”, where we were all asked to put our arms on the the shoulder of the person next to us.
Two birthdays were also celebrated during the concert, one for Stand Atlantic’s photographer, and another one from Waterparks’ team, during which the audience sang a birthday song in Dutch.
Waterparks
Stand Atlantic
Zondag 19 November 2023, Ancienne Belgique (Brussel, BE) | Foto's & tekst: Cristina Vergara