LIVE REVIEW: Inhaler, Gurriers, Permanent (Joy), O2 Academy, Glasgow, 18/02/2025
Local news reports showing photos of fans camping outside the O2 Academy before the opening night goes to show how admired Eli Hewson and his Inhaler band really are, after the latest album Open Wide was released last week that was kept off the number one slot by yes you guessed it … Taylor Swift!
Tonight we would have three bands along for the sold out show, the first of which were Liverpudlian band Permanent (Joy), they may have only three songs released on the streaming services but what we heard tonight sounded right up our street and are definitely a band we would like to see play a headline show. Well done to Inhaler for helping to put another up and coming band on a pedestal, more bands should be doing this. Permanent (Joy) are led by Alex Davidson and were previously known as Blondes until a couple of years ago. Debut single Josephine is the pick of the tracks they played on the fourth night of supporting Inhaler. I Wanna Go Home is the last song of the set capping off a great performance. 8/10
The next band Gurriers like Inhaler are from Dublin, we were hoping to catch their Glasgow show on the recent tour but sadly other commitments meant that we couldn’t attend so the performance tonight is the first time we’ve seen them live. The band take to the stage to Frankie Valli classic Can’t Take My Eyes Off You and we really couldn’t, they had us hooked from the first song Nausea right through to the last one of the set Come and See. Gurriers remind us so much of another Dublin favourite Fontaines D.C. with the way they command the stage and play endless edgy guitar riffs keeping the crowd entertained throughout the thirty-five minute set. Downstairs Gurriers frontman Dan Hoff had the crowd bouncing while guitarist Mark MacCormack was down in amongst the crowd at one point. Top Of The Bill and Approachable are the standouts of the set from the post-punk band that we are certain are destined for bigger things, they are definitely on our ‘must see live again in 2025’ list. 9/10
Upstairs was now packed to capacity with standing room only and that’s what happened as the first track My Honest Face was played and everyone took to their feet. It then stayed like that through the ninety-minute set with the crowd showing great enthusiasm for every song. They seemed to be changing the order of the songs on a nightly basis with the Monday night opener It Won’t Always Be Like This moving to near the end of the set. Nobody was complaining about that though as they worked through a fifteen track setlist covering all three album releases with seven of those coming from Open Wide. Eddie In The Darkness is one of the standout tracks from the album and sounds even better live whilst A Question Of You does much the same. The enthusiasm from the crowd is right up there with the best we have seen at Glasgow’s O2 Academy as is shown during When It Breaks taken from the debut album It Won’t Always Be Like This. The bass from Robert Keating during another of the new songs Little Things is pumping through our chest and stands out as one of the best of the set. By the time we get to hear My King Will Be Kind the crowd are screaming the lyrics back to the stage, “She says I got no love/I fucking hate that bitch” sings Eli Hewson while Josh Jenkinson displays some of the most mesmerising guitar riffs of the night proving that these guys are the real deal. We reckon that Inhaler are now ‘Hydro ready’ after selling out these two shows and can’t wait to see them play in a bigger arena on the next tour.
The band/crowd connection during Dublin In Ecstasy is memorable and another of the new songs Billy (yeah yeah yeah) has a very easy chorus allowing the fans to belt out the lyrics in unison. However it’s Cheer Up Baby that gets the place rocking literally, the floor upstairs is honestly bouncing during this one as the crowd are immersed into the set all around us. It was now time for the last song of the main set It Won’t Always Be Like This, we are suddenly glad that they kept this one under wraps until now as it seems like every one of the three thousand people in attendance are singing along to this one and the band leaves the stage to a massive roar. What would the encore bring? The answer to that would be two of the new tracks from Open Wide starting with the title track itself quickly followed by Your House, one of the leading songs from the new album. The new songs were able to fit in seamlessly and this should help propel Inhaler to the next level, we wouldn’t be surprised if they chose to undertake an arena tour next time around, we hope so anyway. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
