REVIEW: Haim live at The Bodega Social, Nottingham – 16/11/12

“WE’RE getting dirty here in Nottingham tonight,” smiles bassist Este Haim, flirting with the rowdy Friday night crowd. Put all of the buzz around Haim aside for a second – let’s have some fun.

With risqué banter and summery sounds, these three sisters from LA are here for one thing and one thing only – to have a ruddy good time. But don’t be fooled. While they may love a dance and a laugh, they’re also one of the tightest new bands you’ll see this year.

Their tight-knit relationship has clearly created an almighty bond for flawless musicianship, fearless performance and the confidence to pen one hell of a crowd-pleaser.

Breakthrough indie hit Forever enraptures the Bodega with its fatally addictive Americana rock warped by Thriller-era Jacko beats, and Go Slow is about as epic as a four minute pop song can be.

Recent single Save Me and the shimmering rumble of The Wire shake Nottingham to its core by unleashing the essence of what makes this band so great – it’s a wonderful world where Fleetwood Mac meets Destiny’s Child but with no ironic sense of ‘guilty pleasure’ whatsoever. It’s just well-crafted pop at its finest. Haim are just ace.

They’ve got this awesome knack of delivering a pure rush of classic rock and a shameless dose of old school cheese whilst reclaiming these hallowed elements from the realm of the drunk dad at a karaoke bar (but if Haim did run a karaoke bar, you can be pretty sure it would be the best night of your life).

Ending with the colossal Let Me Go, Haim showcase the vocal mastery that you’d find you’d find in any truly classic 90s R n’ B track above a slow-building desert soundscape of fiery West Coast guitar licks and solos before the whole thing crescendos into a manic but ecstatic four-way drum-off. And yes, it really was as good at that sounds.

As the stunned Bodega crowd howl for more it seems shocking that Haim only have one EP released to their name. With an album looming on the horizon, tonight shows that they’re more than capable of exceeding their hype. The year 2013 will belong to Haim. It’s more than just harmless fun, because ‘pop’ is not a dirty word.

By Andrew Trendell