Haim – The Hi-Fi, Sydney, 24/07/13

When the Hi-Fi is sold out. they really do mean sold out. There’s no room to breathe, barely even room to catch a glimpse of the curtained off stage. Earplugs are required and there isn’t even a soul on stage.

As the curtain arises, Jay Z’s 99 Problems starts blaring and the girls from Haim boogie their way on stage. The girls are vocal about hip hop and R’n’B being a large influence on their music – not an odd song choice, then. The girls look great with Este donning a black lace dress, Danielle in a black leather vest and Alana in her customary shorts.

With only two EP’s and a handful of singles, its still crazy how three sisters from California have this place completely packed out, not to mention a Splendour in the Grass appearance hot off the back of a Glastonbury apperance.

Kicking off with Better Off, Este and Danielle abandon their bass and lead guitars mid way through the song and start drumming, at ease with both instruments. Though obviously orchestrated, the move flows with such ease it could have been spur of the moment – a great way to open the show. Second song Forever makes you wonder how one family can harvest this much talent. there’s no room for sibling rivalry here.

Danielle asks, “How’s everybody doing tonight? It’s our first time in Australia and its fucking insane!” Their exuberance was met with further cheers from the crowd. Este tells us, “I almost got married at the Opera House today – it was just hard trying to find a guy to actually marry me.”

They continued with Honey and I, showcasing a completely different experience live to their recorded output. Alana changes to maracas and skips and dances along the stage. It’s a great chance to see her set free from the confines of her keyboard and interact with the crowd, who are putty in the band’s hands.

Falling raises the roof, every single person singing along and clapping when the cues are set.

With such a killer song, and control of their audience, Haim remind you of the cool kids in high school where everything came to them so easily and naturally, even more apparent when they go into the next song Go Slow.

After they finish playing Send Me Down, there’s a pause and someone in the audience yells out “When is the record coming out?”. Este replies that they wanted the record to come out yesterday, revealing that they had just finished mastering their album at Sydney’s 301 Studios. The crowd thanks them with a rush of adulation.

They follow up the great news with Don’t Save Me, before Este thanks the crowd and Haim depart for just a brief moment. Returning for the obligatory encore, it’s announced that the show was “the craziest they’d ever played”, thanking support act The Preatures in the process.

Their encore was just one song, Let Me Go, finishing off the night with, “We are Haim and we’ll see you next time.” After this amazing performance and the reaction from the crowd, you can be sure tonight’s crowd will be returning for that.

Photos: Haim – The Hi-Fi, Sydney, 24/07/13