Concert Review: ONE OK ROCK's Eye Of The Storm Tour with Waterparks & Stand Atlantic

Review & Photos by Yising Kao

Photos from the tour! https://www.galaxy-mag.com/gallery-2

ONE OK ROCK, Waterparks & Stand Atlantic are featured in our May issue-view/grab a copy here!: https://www.galaxy-mag.com/product-page/stand-atlantic-may-2019

In March, I attended a couple of dates of ONE OK ROCK’s Eye Of The Storm Tour with openers Waterparks and Stand Atlantic: Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, with my friends. The Houston, Phoenix, and Las Vegas shows were during my week of spring break – shout out to fate for being on my side! I was really excited to see Stand Atlantic live for the first time and they gave such an energetic performance. Throughout the tour, Bonnie always hopped down from the stage and came over to the spot where my friends and I were because we were screaming the lyrics during Bullfrog! They performed songs from their Sidewinder EP as well as their new album Skinny Dipping, and I had so much fun singing along and headbanging (plus, their Australian accents are great). My favorite songs to hear live were “Bullfrog” and “Lost My Cool.” I was ecstatic that I got the opportunity to interview Bonnie at the Houston show. I admire her songwriting and I loved hearing about her musical process and experiences. Australians are just the sweetest. They really balance out the scary animals Australia’s known for.

Waterparks are my favorite band, so I’m always hyped to see them. Their performances were amazing, and I admire their passion on stage. At the Vegas show, I tried crowd surfing during the buildup of "21 Questions," my favorite song by them (along with "Not Warriors"). Awsten yelled, “DON’T DROP HER” and I almost made it to the front, but the people up there dropped me. It’s the effort that counts though, right? That show was iconic because Awsten, Otto, Geoff, and Jawn (their photographer) all wore suits and looked pretty snazzy. Props to them for not passing out from their sweat on stage. At the Los Angeles show, during the VIP, Awsten had his usual purple hair and I noticed he changed his toe necklace to red plastic toes. But somehow, between the short period of time between the VIP and the show, he dyed his hair red and we all went crazy. HOW?? PERHAPS HE'S A WIZARD?? During "Plum Island," Awsten changed a lyric and said, “I couldn’t delete Friendly Reminder,” which was the rumored album title. So, that show marked the start of the new era, but eventually, Awsten tweeted that he deleted the album and wanted to release different songs, so I’m super excited to hear them, especially with all of Awsten’s teasing and cryptic messages on social media! I spontaneously went to the San Francisco show because my Bay Area friends convinced me to go and had an extra ticket. It didn’t take much for me to decide to skip class and drive 7 hours up there by myself! The venue was in a sketchy area and even though my friend and I had to suffer through the creeps and almost got run over, it was worth it of course. This show and Vegas were definitely my favorite shows from this tour!

Before the tour, I searched up ONE OK ROCK’s music and I really love their song “Stand Out Fit In” because I can relate to it (the music video may or may not have made me sob). Their lyrics are incredible, and it was awesome seeing them perform. As an Asian American, I love how they’re representing diversity in the music industry and spreading powerful messages through their music. I can’t wait to see them again at Warped Tour! I had the best time on this tour and I’m really happy I got to travel and see my concert and Twitter friends that I don’t get to see often, as well as make new friends. Also, I interviewed fans again for my recap video because I love hearing everyone’s stories and how music impacts them. I can’t say this enough – it’s magical how music brings people together and I’m thankful for it. HERE’S TO THE NEXT TOUR!!