Live Review: Haim – 9th December 2013 – The HMV Forum, London, UK

There are some bands which seem like a contradiction when first described – but somehow just work when you actually hear them. One example of this is Haim, the all-girl rock band who take classic rock sounds and give them the unique Haim twist that their audience love so much.

Haim were opened for by Saint Raymond, the interestingly named indie rock band. Saint Ray won the crowd over with their tunes that featured the classic indie riffs and grooves but gave them a freshening up to make sure that they remained interesting and were as enjoyable as possible. Despite this I felt that the audience didn’t respond to Saint Raymond quite as much as was deserved, considering the massive instrumental, vocal, and songwriting skills that were displayed regularly.

I was expecting to be surprised (I’m aware of the contradiction) by Haim’s performance, as I’d been told not long before that I should not judge them by their look and basic description of “California girl band” that some websites give. I couldn’t have realized quite how good that advice was until I saw the three (and their drummer and piano player) play. The band were led on stage by a slowly building drum beat which provided the perfect opening for the three energetic Californians to storm the stage and start on their first song – Falling. Before the band had even got half way through this song the audience were jumping, clapping and singing along with great enthusiasm.

Throughout the night the audience exhausted themselves by carrying on rocking out and getting into the rocky tunes that Haim blasted out, their three members displaying fantastic skill on their instruments alongside a fantastic control of the audience that showed just how much the girls practiced and played.

One of my highlights of the night came when Haim played their song If I Could Change Your Mind. Before the song was played the band requested that the entire audience (emphasis on the entire part) dance to their next song. This request was met by the whole crowd, the listeners both on the ground floor and on the balcony standing and getting into the music that was being skilfully played for them.

At the end of the audience mostly left, a few sticking around so that they could get some of the extra guitar picks that the band had – or get one of the set lists that had been used by the band. Once this had been done the crowd left, making their way back to the near by tube station and chattering about the fantastic event that they had just been witness to.

Set List:

1. Falling
2. The Wire
3. Oh Well
4. Honey and I
5. Go Slow
6. My Song 5
7. If I could Change Your Mind
8. Don’t Save Me
9. Forever
   Encore:
10. Running If You Call My Name
11. Let Me Go

Nick Roberts

::: covering the latest live events in London (UK) for RenownedForSound.com