By Adeline Williams
Typically when I sit down to write a concert review, I focus on the band’s performance. This time, however, I find myself drawn to a different aspect of the overall concert experience. There was something about the Irish rock band Inhaler’s crowd that stood out to me.
This decade of music has been filled with competitive, somewhat toxic fanbases; the kind where people feel the need to compete to see who is a so-called “better” fan and judge those who have not necessarily been a fan from “day one.” You find this a lot with bands similar to Inhaler, many of which have people camping out for artists several nights in a row just to have the perfect spot in the venue. While these fans can be considered supportive, devoted, and not necessarily a bad thing, it was a breath of fresh air to interact with Inhaler fans on their Open Wide World Tour. I was worried going into the night that the show would not be enjoyable if I couldn’t belt out every lyric with the rest of the crowd. The fans I met, though, were casual listeners as well. I was close enough to the stage that I assumed I would be surrounded by diehard fans, but everyone around proudly professed they could not list off the name of every song either. During the show, the crowd was lively and dancing around. Not the typical concert dance of bopping your head and singing along, but actually spinning around, swaying, and simply enjoying the company of others in the crowd. It sounds so simple but I have never seen something quite like it with other similar artists. It was the kind of concert that felt like the ones before social media and phones. I was not around to witness a concert before the groundbreaking media of today, but from the stories I have been told, this seemed as close as you could get to it in the 21st century.
While the lively, welcoming fanbase’s effortlessly cool demeanor stuck out to me initially, Inhaler’s performance itself was just as memorable. Lead singer Elijiah Hewson described the setlist early on in the show in a playlist-like format, calling it “Inhaler’s greatest hits.” Hewson’s warning did not disappoint. With the exception of a cover of One Direction’s “Little Things”- which sent the crowd into a buzz of excitement. Inhaler played the perfect mix of old and new songs, including “The Charms”, a song off of their new album Open Wide, for the first time on tour. I particularly enjoyed their performance of “Totally,”: the whole crowd was silent, in awe of how spectacular it sounded in person.
Inhaler is the definition of “it sounds better live”; they successfully gave each song countlessly streamed a whole new meaning in their cathartic performances. The guitar riff in “X-Ray” was so fun for the crowd to dance to, and perfectly balanced with a follow up slow song in the middle of the setlist to sway to. In a nationalistic fashion, the stage was lit up like an Irish flag: green, white, and orange lights, which perfectly captured the mood during “Dublin in Ecstasy,” a hit from their sophomore album Cuts and Bruises. Wrapping up the evening, their encore was a dream lineup: “Open Wide,” co-written with the Grammy winning songwriter Amy Allen, as well as “It Won’t Always Be Like This” and “Your House.”
The atmosphere of the venue oozed with animation after the concert. Fans walked out decked head to toe in St. Patrick’s Day gear, nodding at the band’s Irish roots, and buzzing Overall, Inhaler was a band unlike any other I have seen before: from their open minded fans to their interactive performance (even letting someone sing the bridge to “Dublin in Ecstasy” and Eli wearing a fan’s pink cowboy hat for the second half of the show), they put on an incredible night.
Be sure to check out Inhaler’s newest album Open Wide on your favorite streaming platform and keep your ears out for it on 103.3 The Edge.
Review by Adeline Williams of The Song Scoop
Adeline is a high school junior from Buffalo, NY. She writes about her favorite emerging artists on her blog The Song Scoop (www.thesongscoop.com). she also enjoys writing and performing her own songs and traveling to see her favorite bands. When not playing music, she teaches string instruments and gamelan (Indonesian percussion) to students at Buffalo Stringworks.
