Inhaler at the Forum

 For once a gig where I was not at the front, but up in the Balcony at the Forum. Which was fine actually. A decent view and nice to have a seat. Until the main act came on when the girls at the front of the balcony got up and therefore so did everyone else.

Anyway, to start out the first support was a guy called Dylan Fraser. Scottish. Sounded good and tried for a pleasant bit of batter with the audience, although a strong Scottish accent meant I didn't pick up all his stuff. I will look out for him in future

The second support I discovered (through some post gig internet research) were called Wet Leg. Difficult to recall a worse name for a band. Both Pippa (who had invited me along to this gig) and I got pretty bored with them after a while. And guitar and drums totally drowned out the vocals. I won't be looking out for them in future

And then the main act, Inhaler. They are an Irish band with just one recently issued album to their name. But it is a very decent debut album. Their claim to fame rests less on that good album than that the lead singer has a famous father. For Elijah Hewson's daddy is Bono from U2. That has certainly given more press coverage than a new band might expect. But never mind how they got into the public eye, are they worth it on their own merits now they are here? Yes definitely on the strength of that album and this live performance.

My only real criticism (apart from their need to write some more songs - there was no encore as they had played their entire repertoire) was that they were TOO good. By that I mean they just seemed too polished, too knowing an act, for a band essentially making their debut. One might expect a certain charming naivety in a new band, but there was none of that. This was a solid rock band performance, and frontman Elijah could have been born to the role. And of course, he was! If rock is inheritable, he has got the genes from his father. And personally I would listen to Inhaler over U2 any day.