Concert Review: iDKHOW at Brooklyn Steel

Photos from the show!: https://www.galaxy-mag.com/idkhow-bowery

I Don’t Know How But They Found Me found the Bowery Ballroom, despite the heavy New York fog and rain, on the night of May 12th. Their Night Heats tour brought their Modern Day take on the eighties dance vibe to a crowd of fans screaming in adoration as they played songs from their latest EP, as well as a few very familiar throwback grooves.

The band opened the set with their incredibly lively debut single, “Modern Day Cain” followed by 1981’s “Bleed Magic.” In addition to playing songs from their current band (iDKHow obviously), Dallon and Ryan played several songs from a band they used to be in together, around 10 years ago, The Brobecks. Some of the Brobecks’ songs included in their set were “The Letter,” “Boring” and “Bike Ride”. These, along with the rest of their 1981 EP and a few covers such as Beck’s Debra and Hot IQ’s Iggy Pop made for a perfect setlist. The song that stood out to me the most was actually a Brobecks song, “Visitation of the Ghost.” About midway through this song, Dallon began to sing snippets of melodies from some all time classics, like “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys and “I Want You To Want Me” by Cheap Trick, which definitely got the entire crowd singing along, even the parents in the back. After this, Dallon began to talk to the crowd, all while still playing the songs funky bassline. “There’s something you may not know about my buddy Ryan,” he teased. “See, you may know that he can play the drums, but did you know he can also play the bass?” And with that, Dallon handed off his bass guitar to Ryan to continue the bass line while Dallon jumped into the crowd to sing along, without a mic, with the crowd, while Ryan maintained a steady kick-drum beat AND the song’s bassline. This really showed off the raw talent that these two guys have, humbly so. To play a show with only two band members and still have just as much, if not more energy than any other typical three or four piece band, that’s really something.

The bands eccentric performance thrived on crowd participation, which always certainly makes shows that much more enjoyable, and for these guys, that was especially so. During A Letter, the duo pitted their sides of the crowd against each other in a who-can-sing-along-the-loudest type of friendly competition. On this night, at Bowery Ballroom, it was Team Dallon who had the loudest voices, singing along the ahhs and oohs of the chorus.

iDKHow are amongst the most incredible live bands I’ve ever seen and would definitely recommend checking out one of the shows. With their undeniable talent, entertaining stage banter, and groovy tunes, it's a show that sure to deliver. Catch them on the rest of the night heats tour this spring, and be sure to listen to their debut 1981 EP available everywhere now.