Haim at The Olympia Theatre Dublin – Review & Photos

Haim played The Olympia Theatre Dublin tonight March 10th.

Haim may be hailed as bringing ‘soft rock’ back but as Alana, Danielle, and Este thrashed it out at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, there was nothing soft about it. They arrived in a blaze of mist, to be lit with a golden tint with every kick drum. Flashing white lights allowed for brief glimpses of the girls jamming it out, moving in ways that only the Haim sisters seem to be able to get away with before they launched into a small back catalog that never fails to impress.

Kicking off with “Falling”, the sisters repeated an almost identical setlist to that from last December’s sold out Academy gig but with significantly heavier synth and a more polished set. It’s rare to see a band improve on the same setlist but seemingly endless touring seems to be refining the awe-inspiring multi-instrumental skills of the trio. Every song feels like a jam session and as you feel yourself being transported into the Haim family living room, you find yourself smiling, purely because these girls are too.

Much to the crowd’s delight “Go Slow” was added back to the setlist tonight after the Haim gave it a brief rest for a few nights of the UK leg of the tour. In between songs, they didn’t withhold from the banter that’s become so much a part of their repertoire.

There’s a charm to Este and her loose tongue that makes people want to tend to her every whim, and they did. When Este Haim tells you to “get down low, down to the nitty gritty” and other things which I can’t repeat in this article, you damn do it. I have never seen a crowd collectively get as ‘low’ as I did tonight and a whole new meaning to being ‘floored’ by an act was born. Before we knew it, we were reminded that Haim’s setlist is heartbreakingly short and the girls exited stage right before anyone was ready to depart.

Did you go to the show? How was it?

Photos and review by Laur Ryan