The rock star-ification of Dominic Fike

Photos by Clayborne Bujorian

One thing became clear during the sold-out House of Blues Boston stop of Dominic Fike’s Out of Order tour: he is a rock star.

Maybe not in the traditional sense of the genre, but The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has pushed the genre’s limits enough that I can make my case. Gone are the days of his small-town intrigue: now Fike has the reputation to back up his around-the-block line and four-million-dollar record deal with Columbia Records. Fike’s presence on stage is electrifying. Walking out to the crowd’s roar, the 26-year-old Naples native held an indisputable sense of confidence.

A general wash of gold and blue, his silhouette left light trails in the fog. The hoots and hollers give way to the opening chords (and shouts) of “Westcoast Collective” on electric guitar, one of the most popular songs from Fike’s 2018 debut EP, Don’t Forget About Me. With tickets reselling for $150 to $300, Fike made it worth the crowd’s dime on Saturday night with a setlist lasting around an hour and a half comprised of twenty-two songs.

In the essence of an icon, the crowd was entranced by Fike. Often, he didn’t even need to sing, turning the mic to face the crowd’s voices during his better-known songs, “3 nights,” “Babydoll,” and his encore of “Phone Numbers.” After lending the audience his mic for the hit song “Why” from his 2020 debut studio album, What Could Possibly Go Wrong, he picked up the pace with a metal heavy solo rendition on electric guitar.

Compared to the hazy and dreamlike sounds of the digital versions of his songs, in a live space Fike’s music has an amped-up quality. With Fike and Biard, the tour’s opener, on guitar, and the band covering drums and keys, every song pulsed out to the audience. Guests couldn’t help but jump along.

The crowd was a sight to behold in its own right. Phone cameras held high, and the audience was almost entirely composed of Gen-Z. Much of the audience was decked out similar to Fike’s personal style (a combination of classic menswear and grunge pieces) or in Euphoria-inspired outfits and makeup. Reference to Fike’s performance in season two of the HBO hit drama was surprisingly absent, both in Fike’s intermittent commentary and his setlist; his character “Elliot’s Song” was not performed.

Fike announced a new song “Think Fast,” part of an album to be released in 2023, and a hush fell over the crowd, which lent itself well to the change of pace as he broke out his acoustic guitar. Here it became apparent that Fike has truly honed in on his craft as he transitioned through instruments naturally. A multi-instrumentalist, he made it seem effortless, whether on the keyboard during “Rollerblades,” acoustic guitar for “Açai Bowl,” or electric guitar for the bulk of the show. A jack-of-all-trades, Fike flowed with similar ease between singing and rapping all night long.

Don’t Forget About Me, Dominic Fike asked his fans in the title of his first album. It has been four years since its release and it’s clear that no one can forget the rock star Dominic Fike.