Irish rockers Inhaler have been on the rise long before dropping debut LP It Won’t Always Be Like This in 2021, touring with the likes of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds back in 2019. And it was their songwriting chops and ability to craft gently delicious tunes such as When It Breaks and Cheer Up Baby that put them firmly on the map. Hit LP Cuts & Bruises firmed up that acclaim in 2023.
And so, tonight’s appearance at London’s O2 Academy Brixton – the first of two consecutive shows at the venue following last week’s release of the currently battling for Number 1 spot (up against a Taylor Swift live record!) third LP Open Wide – was one their growing following were expectedly anticipating.
Elijah Hewson of Inhaler @ O2 Academy Brixton
Opening for the Dubliners are fellow Irish rockers Gurriers, hot off their debut LP Come And See, which dropped back in September. The punk-rock outfit bring a unique energy to Brixton, enticing a largely teenage female crowd to bounce around to their rather shouty material. They storm through album opener Nausea and its record follow-up Des Goblin with frontman Dan Hoff making the most of the Academy stage. Bassist Charlie McCarthy flys off the stage and plays from deep within the crowd for a time before their set is rounded out with the more tuneful LP title track Come And See, Mark MacCormack’s guitars reverberating around the venue.
As the Elijah Hewson-led quartet and touring keyboardist Louis Lambert take the stage, the screams are wild, the boys diving straight into it with 2018 single My Honest Face, Josh Jenkinson’s screaming guitars and Ryan McMahon’s deliberate beats have the crowd bouncing from the off and they sing along with one of the groups mainstays, bassist Robert Keating donning cool-as-you-like shades to combat the bright stage lights, his bass hanging by his knees.
“You’re in the darkness now London” Hewson calls, the academy lights dimming as the group tear straight into storming Open Wide cut Eddie In The Darkness, the crowd readily singing along with a tune they’ve only been exposed to for just 6 days. Bouncy A Question Of You is up next, the band barely taking a breath between numbers, Hewson and Jenkinson duelling guitars in a style we’re more accustomed to from metal bands rather than for airy indie-pop tunes.
Elijah Hewson of Inhaler @ O2 Academy Brixton
A one-two punch from their debut LP is delivered next by way of Totally and When It Breaks, the older tunes eliciting screams from the audience. The former is led by 1980s keyboard chords from Lambert, the crowd’s singing audibly louder as they sing: “Why does it hurt me so much?” so much that Hewson hands the closing bars over to them.
New album cut Little Things kicks off with menacing guitars before diving into a jangly singalong that will, no doubt, be a firm favourite of arenas and festival stages but it is rousing X-Ray that washes supremely over the O2 Academy Brixton crowd, certainly a stand-out from the Open Wide LP, it’s opening bars met with screaming enthusiasm, Hewson’s raw vocals singing “Feels like heaven” atop glorious hooks echoed back to him by the crowd. “I will chain myself to your soul” he croons.
Organs welcome debut album tune My King Will Be Kind, “This is a song about boys” Hewson introduces, singing along with Jenkinson’s guitar intro. Who’s Your Money On? (Plastic House) is reminiscent of Imagine Dragons’ 2012 single Amsterdam, Robert Keating hooky basslines delivering that extra dimension, as does Hewson’s gorgeous falsetto during the song’s slow-drive extended outro – it’s hard not to focus on that vocal, Hewson does stem from some pedigree after all (his dad is one Paul Hewson – AKA U2’s Bono!). And while this fact has, and will continue to, draw nepotism commentary, it is truly Hewson’s Jr.’s raw talent as a singer, songwriter and frontman that has battled that stigma to rise to tonight’s elevation (pun possibly intended).
The stage lights shine out the Irish hues of orange, white and green for Cuts & Bruises tune Dublin In Ecstasy. “What’s your name?” Hewson asks a fan after wandering down to the venue’s barricade. “Is it Chloe with a ‘C’ or a ‘K’”? He asks her before requesting Khloe(?) take over vocal duties for a bar of the tune. Life. Made. Before bouncy Love Will Get You There has the whole stalls area pogoing throughout.
Elijah Hewson of Inhaler @ O2 Academy Brixton
The 25-year-old frontman encourages the crowd to clap along before another highlight from the new LP is aired by way of poppy Phoenix-esque Billy (Yeah Yeah Yeah), yet another tune that’s clearly been written with festival stages and huge singalongs in mind, lush guitars peppered with synths and shimmering rather than pounding drums.
“La-la, la-la, la-laaa” the frontman screams, teasing that the 2023 single Just to Keep You Satisfied is on its way. Anthemic Cheer Up Baby rounds out the main set, Jenkinson stepping to the edge of the stage and pointing out a collapsed fan to security and the band taking a break in the song for her to be safely plucked from the throngs before they up the tempo to the song’s raucous conclusion, the crowd bouncing wildly following the rock ’n’ roll moment.
After a brief stage departure, they’re back for an encore that unashamedly sandwiches singalong debut album title track It Won’t Always Be Like This between that of the new record, Open Wide, and the new record’s third tune Your House. Thanking his fans, Hewson gushes: “this is a very important night for us, so thank you”.
90 minutes and they’re off. The sweatbox the stalls of the 5,000-capacity O2 Academy Brixton became tonight on a cold February night is testament to the big things that are surely on the horizon for Inhaler (alas the upstairs circle area was still too cold for me to remove my winter coat!). And when a fan’s “favourite” song can easily be left off the setlist and not be missed (mine is Cuts & Bruises tune The Things I Do), you know they have the depth. They’re tight, engaging and bring an expanding catalogue of festival-ready tunes with which to push and pull their fans with and to draw in those who are unfamiliar for more than just a passing moment.
Live review of Inhaler at O2 Academy Brixton, London on 13th February 2025 by Kalpesh Patel.
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