On March 19, I had the incredible privilege to attend the last stop of Inhaler’s 2025 “Open Wide’ North American Tour. For those unfamiliar with the Irish rock band, Inhaler comprises four members: Elijah Hewson, Robert Keating (Bobby Skeetz), Josh Jenkinson, and Ryan McMahon. I am a huge fan of Inhaler and jumped at this opportunity. Like many others, the first song I heard from the Dublin band was, “My Honest Face”. My best friends and I adored this song throughout our high school years. In more recent years, my favorite album of theirs is the 2023 “Cuts & Bruises” release. In this album is my favorite song ever, “The Things I Do”.
When the “Open Wide” tour was announced, I was delighted to see they’d perform at the House of Blues Dallas location. I absolutely love this venue. As an avid concertgoer, I always look ahead to map out where I should park and where the cheapest parking is. This location has tons of options since it’s located near the American Airlines Center. The House of Blues itself is a stunning venue, with a lobby decorated with various artworks. Their staff is extremely organized, and they always thoroughly search through bags at security, which helps ease my mind after entry.
After entering the pit section, I had a chance to observe the other attendees. Age-wise, this was the most diverse concert crowd I’d ever been a part of. Several older men went with their teenagers because they supported Inhaler and Benches, the opener for Inhaler’s tour. Throughout the concert, I had the privilege of conversing with a dad-and-daughter duo next to me who’d attended because of their joint love for Inhaler. They had an amazing time and were super fun to interact with.
Their opener for this tour was the California-based band, Benches, an Indie Rock band comprised of Anson Kelly, Ethan Bowers, Evan Ojeda, and Charlie Baird. This was the PERFECT band to open for Inhaler! They’re incredible performers, and they blew me away. Their energy was unbelievable. The band greatly stirred up the crowd’s energy for Inhaler. My favorite song from their set was “Crash”! I also loved “Kill the Lights” and “It Doesn’t Have to Change”.
After Benches rocked the stage, Inhaler finally boarded the stage, opening with the title track, ‘Open Wide,’ from their latest album. This song is a great opener to their set; not too rock-centered, but not extremely mellow. “Open Wide” is also one of my favorites from their new album. Additionally, their setlist consisted largely of tracks from “Open Wide” but paid homage to their earlier work. From their newest album, Inhaler played instant classics, such as “Eddy in the Darkness”, “Billy (Yeah Yeah Yeah)”, and “A Question of You”. Catering to their supporters, Inhaler also played fan favorites, including “Totally”, “Love Will Get You There,” and the iconic, “Dublin in Ecstacy”.
Inhaler concluded with two encore songs, “Your House”, the first single to “Open Wide”, and their most popular song to date, “My Honest Face”. Witnessing it live was such a surreal experience. The crowd’s energy was exhilarating during the final song of the night. I felt a lot of bittersweet emotions because of my long history with “My Honest Face” and how much this song meant to my best friends and I.
I had an incredible time! I want to thank Interscope Capitol’s Press Team for reaching out to Her Campus UNT and for presenting me with the chance to see one of my favorite bands live. Inhaler exceeded my already high expectations. If you ever have the chance, check out Inhaler and Benches, and add seeing the bands perform to your bucket list.