iDKHOW, Twin XL 06/21/2019

I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, Twin XL
June 21st, 2019
Night Heat World Tour 2019
The Bourbon Theater
Lincoln, Nebraska

I wasn’t sure what I was going to be getting myself into by walking into the Bourbon Theater on a mild June night. With this show’s genre of music, I was a bit out of my element. Thankfully I didn’t let that deter me from attending.
The line into the venue wrapped around the block almost 45 minutes before doors opened, and the line just kept growing. This is worth mentioning given both bands playing tonight were making their Nebraska debuts. It also proves that Nebraska knows great music.
Twin XL, touring in support of their debut ep, “How to Talk to Strangers”, set the tone for the night with their upbeat indie rock style. With a band comprised of musical veterans in their own right, it didn’t matter to the crowd if Twin XL’s music was still unfamiliar; the music was catchy. It didn’t take more than just a few songs for several hundred fans to warm up to the band, and they were the perfect act to open for IDKHOW.
Self described as “…a band out of time”, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me have been building momentum since their 2016 live debut. Comprised of former Panic! at the Disco bassist Dallon Weekes, and Falling In Reverse drummer Ryan Seaman, IDKHOW have gained a considerable following in a short amount of time. The band’s current radio hit, “Choke”, was initially released in 2017 and started to slow burn to its current blazing hit status.
For nearly and hour and half, IDKHOW smashed through a set that had the crowd bouncing and singing along to every word. The band split their set between cuts from their debut ep, and “covers” of Weekes and Seaman’s prior band, The Brobecks.
Tonight’s concert once again proved that I need to open up my small window of genres. I wasn’t expecting to have such a great time. To be honest, I walked through the Bourbon Theater’s door expecting to shoot a few songs and leave. I was wrong. The crowd’s energy was bombastic and took me by surprise. Here I was, seeing a band that I knew very little about, for the first time and there were hundreds of fans in the crowd singing along to every song. There were even a few times the crowd nearly drown out Weekes’ vocals.
It was also a humorous show. Having only a few EPs under their belt, IDKHOW made up for a smaller catalogue by telling stories throughout the set, and joking about the size of their band.
“I know you see two people up here. A drummer. A Bassist. But you hear guitars, pianos, trumpets, saxophones,” Weekes told the crowd early on in their set. He then turned to Seaman and asked why they utilized pre-recorded instruments.
“Because we’re too cheap to hire a band,” Seaman replied.
It didn’t matter that the duo were up there playing along with their own music. What mattered was that they were playing live and they were obviously having a blast doing so. Weekes even ventured into the crowd at one point. He set the rules about “no touching” and being respectful of personal space, jumped off the stage, climbed the barricade and sang a bit of Pauls Abdul’s classic “Straight Up” then jumped back on stage for Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” and finished the medley with Cheap Tricks’ “I Want You To Want Me”.
Closing their main set with the band’s current radio hit, “Choke”, I finally got the chance to sing along to the band’s original music too. As much of a banger as the track is in its studio version, IDKHOW cranked the amps up on the live version.
Cameron Walker of TWIN XL joined IDKHOW during their encore of “Nobody Likes the Opening Band.” Celebrating Pride Month, Weekes grabbed a Gay Pride flag from one of the girls hanging on the railing, and draped it across his shoulders during their closing song, a cover of The Brobecks’ “Boring”.
There was an incredible sense of belonging and family during tonight’s concert. That’s what truly mattered. IDKHOW’s music brought several hundred strangers together as one family. Isn’t that what music is supposed to do?