Alex Tearle
From the balcony to the mosh pit, Inhaler held a captivated audience throughout their one hour set, providing one of the most well rounded gigs I have had the pleasure to see in a long time. Alex Tearle tells us more about the experience…
This praise isn’t underserved; the 4 piece’s debut album It Won’t Always Be Like This scored impressive 80/100 scores from both NME and the Guardian and peaked at number 1 on the UK and Irish albums charts. It’s not hard to see why, either. Their sound transitions from studio to stage incredibly well, with each band member’s instruments combining to create a unique but nostalgic combination of indie and rock which Rock City’s crowd adored, dancing from the support to the last act.
It feels criminal to not talk about both support acts, though. The night opened with Dylan Fraser, who performed a fantastic opening set, no doubt collecting a good number of new fans with his unique sound and lyricism. Fraser’s sound could be described as a love child of Working Men’s Club and Easy Life, with huge synth drumbeats combined with an almost poetic style of vocals, backed by rock guitars which drew in crowds hours before Inhaler were on stage.
Special praise should be given to Fraser’s drummer who, while providing backup vocals, utilised all parts of an impressively large drum kit to create an absolute wall of sound. This performance, much like Inhaler’s, also had several moments of incredibly human crowd interaction, solidifying Dylan Fraser as an act to be watched.
the crowd [were] screaming before the band had even picked up their instruments
Up next were Wet Leg, the Isle of Wight two piece who are rising quickly in the UK scene, supporting Sports Team and Shame (along with many others). They absolutely deserve these spots, their heavy guitar riffs and subtle vocals transfixed the mounting crowd, opening a few mosh pits of their own and clearly having a great time, with the two lead frontwomen grinning and loving the raucous (and much deserved) applause.
Inhaler took to the stage with force, with the crowd screaming before the band had even picked up their instruments. Their old and new tracks were met with similar enthusiasm from an adoring crowd, creating a loving and excitable atmosphere to which Inhaler performed an incredible set, with impressive guitar solos and massive mosh pits, showing why they deserved a spot at such an iconic venue.
a musically flawless set and great stagecraft
The guitar solos were particularly impressive, sounding exactly as they did on the album, a testament to how exceptional the band were live. The lighting throughout the set was particularly interesting, with cold blues during the sadder Slide Out The Window and far brighter and exciting flashing strobes used throughout My Honest Face, matching the energy of the band and providing the perfect backing to such an amazing set.
Each musician performed their heart out, with a musically flawless set and great stagecraft. It was clear the band was having a great time performing and this only spurred the crowd on more. The band were met with equal reception to Ice cream Sundae and It Won’t Always Be Like This, highlighting their exceptional song writing and how far the band have come since playing Rescue Rooms as the crowd screamed every lyric back to the band.
The crowd interaction was particularly memorable too, with frontman Elijah Hewson joking ‘If you’re here with a partner, put your hand up… if you did, this song isn’t for you’ before a captivating performance of Totally. Overall, this band were absolutely as impressive live as they sound on their album.
Alex Tearle
Featured image courtesy of Alex Watkin. Permission to use granted to Impact.
In-article image courtesy of @inhalerdublin via @instagram.com. No changes were made to this image.
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