Inhaler at Portsmouth Guildhall (5.10.2025)
After the trek back from Bristol, via home to pick up wife, Sally, we get to Portsmouth Premier Inn to see a police cordoned and be called to be told of its evacuation due to a fire. A rebooking in Havant and some time to kill, spent in the obvious Isambard Kingdom Brunel Wetherspoons opposite (pleasant one that always serves the purpose) and the cavernous Dockyard pub (good range of craft ales) just along down Guildhall Walk.
Although Inhaler formed in 2012, in Dublin, the first LP wasn’t released until 2021. Like many, my eyebrows had been raised around Covid times, with the early singles, such as Honest Face (which I bought on 10″ vinyl), having realised that it was Bono’s son, Elijah Hewson, fronting the band – I can’t deny it.
I saw them three times in 2022: Glastonbury and Victorious festivals, and at Southampton Engine Rooms (My blog link to that one). Three good LPs purchased, all reaching 1 or 2 in the UK chart and all no.1 in Ireland, the latest being Wide Open. There’s even a new single, not on the LP, released today (29 Oct), Hole in the Ground, which they play mid-set.
No cameras allowed at this venue and that seems a permanent thing so it’s phone only, and there are loads of them waving about downstairs. The lighting is unusual. Maybe it was upstairs only, from where the stage mostly appeared to be in darkness and sporadically bright lights beamed up into balcony faces, from what looked like giant speakers positioned around the stage. Perhaps it was the desired effect. (The phone snaps are just when the stage suddenly lit up a bit.)
The gig appears to be something of a warm-up for a special Royal Albert Hall one this week and it is a nice surprise to have them visit Pompey. It’s busy. Huge queue when the doors opened with mostly young women waiting to rush for a place on the barrier down the front. We waited in ‘Spoons. No rush. So little rush that after going straight in at 7.30 ish we grabbed a table in the big downstairs bar and met some friends. I wasn’t motivated to see the support bands this evening, which isn’t my style but no research and I was unaware of Scustin or The Guest List (there’s a name that’ll be a nuisance – comedy sketch gold).
Inhaler are an easy listening. Indie pop but with plenty of depth in the guitars and bass. Elijah Hewson’s voice has that clear, light nasal, soft Dublin sound that unmistakably marks him as the son of his father. Much less frontman and more part of the band and playing guitar throughout. It is an overall sound I warm to with rarely a song I don’t like, but then less that I can pinpoint as highlights. This is whole album music. If I had to pick favourites, they would be the ones that obviously demand pride of place in the setlist still, with It Won’t Always Be Like This at the end of the main set and My Honest Face as the last of three songs in the encore.
Despite my lofty position in the balcony, and the peculiar lighting (I suspect the Albert Hall was the priority), it was uplifting to see youths going bonkers down the front, and it’s heavily female… more stories for girls than Stories For Boys perhaps.
The band makes a great sound – a few grumbles from friends downstairs mind – but it was loud so maybe any distortion didn’t travel upstairs.
The Royal Albert Hall is going it a bit but over the three albums since 2021 they have been impressive and not over toured and I hope they enjoyed that special night. I don’t suppose Bono was there… wouldn’t want to cramp his son’s style.
Gigs with Ivan 