Haim – I Quit Tour ★★★★

By The Recs JM - James McLuckie 7 months ago

Californian pop-rock sisters Haim conclude their I Quit tour with a rollicking good time in Glasgow.

More than a decade since their Days Are Gone debut thrust them into the pop-rock firmament, Haim now occupy that curious mid-career liminal space: no longer chart fixtures nor guaranteed festival headliners, yet still capable of commanding arenas and inspiring fervent loyalty. If the sisterly trio have ceded a little of their once-inevitable momentum, they perform like a group keen to remind us why they earned it in the first place.

The show’s production is striking without feeling self-consciously extravagant. Bright strobes and sharp silhouettes carve the stage into clean, modern lines, while retro typography nods toward the sisters’ penchant for sun-bleached nostalgia. It’s an aesthetic that mirrors their sound – grounded in classic pop and soft rock but sharpened with a contemporary edge – and although many elements feel familiar to the arena-pop playbook, it is executed with exuberant confidence.

What might surprise casual punters is just how muscular the live sound now is. Haim have always embraced guitars, but here they lean into a far rockier palette, an unfortunate by-product that, at times, the breezy Los Angeles shimmer that has often defined their records is sanded away. On heavier tracks, the rhythm section takes centre stage, and the three-part percussion breaks land with thunderous joy. It’s a choice that occasionally comes at the cost of the glossier hooks, but it lends the evening a gratifying sense of grit and presence; these are songs built to be played loud and lived-in.

Both vocally and instrumentally, sisters Danielle, Alana, and Este remain a compelling force. Their chemistry – always one of their most potent assets – is as instinctive as ever. More notable still is how entirely at home they seem on stage. The between-song banter is relaxed and warmly comic, establishing an easy rapport with the Glasgow crowd, who respond in kind with chants, cheers, and the sort of full-throated enthusiasm only a Friday-night audience can provide.

Setlist choices span their catalogue, with crowd-pleasers such as The Steps, The Wire and Gasoline receiving the expected rapturous reception. In this context, the band’s evolution becomes clear: they may have moved past the effervescence that first marked them out, but they have gained heft and assurance in its place. If some surprising money-shot omissions (Falling and If I Could Change Your Mind, for instance) meant the euphoric highs were slightly fewer, the craft remained undeniable.

By the time the final choruses of recent singles Relationships and Down to be Wrong echoed around the Hydro, Haim had delivered a show that confirmed their status as a band still very much worth following. This tour may be titled I Quit, but on tonight’s evidence, they have little intention of stepping aside quietly.

If this is ‘quitting’, Haim prove that they are nowhere near done – ★★★★ 4 stars

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The Recs JM - James McLuckie
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