IDKHow Concert Review: A Lively Night in Gloomtown

On March 29, I Dont Know How But They Found Me took the stage at Boston’s Brighton Music Hall. The sold-out concert was the eleventh stop on the nationwide Gloomtown Tour, in support of their sophomore album “Gloom Division.” The indie pop project of Salt Lake City-based musician Dallon Weeks, IDKHow brought an electrifying performance to a typical cold Sunday night in Boston.

The Gloomtown Tour marks IDKHow’s first tour as Weekes’s solo project after drummer Ryan Seaman departed the band last year. Weekes’s presence was more than enough to fill the venue on its own, although he was supported by a touring band made up of guitarist Anthony Purpura, bassist Isaac Paul, and drummer Ronnie Strauss — another first for IDKHow.

Weekes opened the set with “SPKOTHDVL,” a slick, self-referential track from “Gloom Division” that heightened the excitement for what was to come. Next was “Do It All the Time,” a fan-favorite song from 2018 in which Weekes sarcastically sings from the perspective of a rich, selfish playboy.

The setlist featured a mix of new and old songs from IDKHow’s discography, balancing the show’s appeal to both new fans and those who have supported the band since its beginning — or even earlier. Weekes performed two songs he recorded with his previous band, The Brobecks, including the 2009 tour-de-force track “Visitation of the Ghost.” During the song, Weekes parted the crowd and did his now-signature walk through the middle of Brighton Music Hall — before diving into a mashup of the song with Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s viral hit “Murder on the Dancefloor.”

Throughout the set, Weekes oozed charisma and held an easy command of the crowd. He led the audience in chanting backup vocals during songs such as “A LETTER.” Before starting the song, he took a minute to teach the crowd the song’s two-part harmony. Weekes didn’t sing at all during the three-minute track, instead playing the bassline and allowing the audience’s collective voices to take over.

“This little project of mine, its origins lie in Salt Lake City, where I’m from. Culturally speaking, church is a big deal there. And just for a slight little moment, I swore that I was in the same room as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir,” Weekes said after finishing the song. “This next song, though? Well, Boston, they don’t teach you about this in church.”

The song in question was “WHAT LOVE?,” the lead single from “Gloom Division” — a laid-back track that showcased Weekes’s impressive vocals. Its place on the setlist also helped to display the album’s range, which spans from the wryly despondent rock track “DOWNSIDE” to its upbeat pop twin “SUNNYSIDE.”

Backed by minimalist lighting, Weekes and his band never let the energy in the venue dissipate. He would often sing interludes between songs, with the band keeping an instrumental track going while he set sentences to a seemingly improvised melody before transitioning right into the next song.

Weekes ended the set with a back-to-back trio of IDKHow’s most popular hits: “Choke,” “Razzmatazz,” and “Nobody Likes the Opening Band” — a song that he clarified was written to be self-deprecating, not disparaging. He even gave a shout out to the Gloomtown Tour opener, California-based indie rock band Benches, during the song.

After spending over 20 years in bands — first as a member of The Brobecks, then as the bassist of Panic! at the Disco, and most recently as half of the original IDKHow duo — Weekes showed that he is more than capable of standing on his own as a solo artist. He seemed completely at ease onstage, exuding confidence and interacting with the audience in a way that captured the crowd’s attention and excitement. At Brighton Music Hall, the Gloomtown Tour certainly landed sunny-side up.

—Staff writer Samantha H. Chung can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @samhchung.