Concert Review: Out of Order
To round out my concert-going escapade of fall quarter 2022, the Saturday after finals week, I saw Dominic Fike’s Out of Order tour live at Radius. Whether you know him from his role of Elliot on HBO’s Euphoria or have been listening to him since his SoundCloud days, Fike’s music is an indie-pop lover’s gold mine, falling under the same genre and general vibe as Brockhampton’s Kevin Abstract (explaining their past collaborations) - a combination of soft rock and hip hop resulting in catchy, memorable melodies. One of his most famous songs is 3 Nights, which charted top 10 in multiple countries upon its release. My personal favorites of his are Acai Bowl, which has a very special place in my early high school self’s heart, and Wurli.
I want to preface this entire article by making it clear that this was not a typical concert-bound outing of mine: both the plan and the execution of the aforementioned plan were very chaotic and disorganized, and we ended up missing the entire opener while we were in the merch line. This is not to mention that the lighting at the venue altered the appearance of colors of said merch, and I didn’t realize my black hoodie was actually green until I left. Nevertheless, the venue, which I hadn’t heard of until this show, was actually really cool – it was all standing room, the entire space spanning across one level. It was broken up into a bar, a food area, a merch table, and the stage by tall dividing walls. The whole thing was blackboxed, with lighting coming from pink and orange LEDs on the ceilings. Based on the “coming soon” advertisements and the general feel of the area, this venue is typically home of electronic music/hyperpop and metal, the perfect set up for gigantic mosh pits.
From what we heard of the opener, they were a hard rock/metal band that were successful in hyping up the crowd (we heard much screaming, presumably of enjoyment, from the merch line). Unfortunately I have no idea who they were. To be honest, we didn’t even know there was going to be an opener until we got there. There is nothing on the Internet about an opener, and I can’t seem to find any information on them (there is a possibility I am just bad at the Internet), but they were good. The genre wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but I enjoyed listening from afar nonetheless.
Fike appeared on stage not so long after. The setlist is as follows:
Setlist:
1. Westcoast Collective 10. Come Here
2. Double Negative 11. She Wants My Money
3. The Kiss of Venus 12. Superstar Sh*t
4. Joe Blazey 13. Florida
5. 3 Nights 14. (Unreleased Song)
6. Rollerblades 15. Wurli
7. Acai Bowl 16. Vampire
8. Politics & Violence 17. Babydoll
9. Batshit 18. Why
Encore:
19. Phone Numbers
Fike’s voice was much better than I anticipated live– aside from being a fabulous performer, both his guitar and vocal performances were clear, interesting, and entertaining. His chemistry with the band was impeccable, and he bantered with the audience quite a bit, cracking jokes and providing personal anecdotes when it fit the natural flow of response from the audience.
Image via
Fike sang variations for virtually all of his songs. This may be an unpopular opinion, but while I appreciate the artistry that goes into remakes and melodic variations, I do wish that he had kept a song or two the same as the recorded version; in my opinion, concerts are equally about an artist’s performance, as well as the audience’s ability to recognize and sing along (or simply enjoy) a song that they recognize and love. There were several songs I didn’t recognize until about halfway through because of these variations, which is fine if this was true for a handful of songs– but this was true for almost the entire setlist. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed Fike’s performance, and I would recommend it for anyone who likes his music, or simply enjoys live music in general. He is definitely one of those artists who can capture your attention regardless of your familiarity.
Aside from the merch mishap and the poor time management on my own part, I would give my experience a 10/10.
