”Do you think we’ll ever headline this place?” Alana Haim recalls the moment she asked her sisters Danielle and Este, this very question, a decade ago, when they played the O2 Arena for the first time supporting Florence and the Machine. Here we are, 10 years and three hugely successful albums later and the answer is yes.
Tonight feels like a culmination and a celebration of everything Haim has achieved to get to their biggest headline show to date. You just have to listen to the rapturous sound that meets the trio of siblings as they take the stage tonight. This feels like it’s as much a moment for the fans in attendance as it is for them.
Over the course of the two hour runtime Haim gives everyone here a show and indeed a night to remember. Largely focusing on material from 2020’s excellent Women in Music Part III, tonight’s set is all killer and no filler.
It feels like each song is given its own unique moment to shine. I Know Alone, features the now customary girl band dance break. 3am is preceded by a story about Magic Mushrooms and pegging a chap named Morgan in a Nando’s bathroom. Hallelujah is dedicated to the memory of Alana’s best friend Sammi Kane Kraft, whose family are in attendance this evening. Every single phone is lit up creating a beautiful and emotionally resonant moment that had this reviewer in tears.
Gasoline produced arguably the show’s biggest talking point as the trio casually brought out their friend Taylor Swift, who proceeded to slay her verse and then segue way into a mash up with her own Love Story. Her entrance signalled the second time this year the O2 has had its roof blown off. It’s a monumental moment that provided a very special cherry on an already delicious cake.
Haim are undoubtedly one of the coolest bands around, and they have yet to put a foot wrong. As good as they are on record though, the live arena is where they belong and they shine the brightest. As they effortlessly glide around the stage holding a captive audience in the palm of their collective hands, it seems like the question Alana should have asked all those years ago was not if they will headline, but when.
I always talk about the power of live music, and especially the importance of it after these last couple of years. Tonight is a perfect example of why I think that holds true. This is everything you want from a live show, amazing songs being performed expertly by a band at the peak of their powers, creating an atmosphere allowing 20,000 people to come to get together, to dance, sing, cry and leave all the world’s problems at the door. Haim came here tonight to put on a show and ended up giving everyone the best night of their lives. 10/10
