Haim at O2 Academy The Gentlemen – Departures
Dave Purdy
The crowd, once excitable and collectively chattering to one another, quietens and the lights go down. A heartbeat of drums begins, with flash lighting mimicking the beat. Then they appear. At first they are nothing more than silhouettes; reduced to an outline of long hair and guitars. They begin to play “Falling”, as spotlights illuminate their faces. Haim, three LA born sisters, who just happen to make rather brilliant music, are centre-stage and immediately wooing the audience with their quirky banter and bizarre interjections. Este Haim tends to do much of the talking. “Thank you Sheffield, for inviting us into your home.” She says, before inviting us to imagine that we’re now in the Haim household, where the sisters are jamming and playing some “good old fashioned rock and roll.”
‘Departures’ is Sheffield foursome The Gentlemen’s latest instalment of upbeat electro-pop. The album opens with the appropriately named ‘We Can Have a Disco’ which sets the scene perfectly for the rest of the album with it’s blend of racy guitar riffs and synth that wouldn’t feel out of place on an arcade beat ‘em up (which is no bad thing). Lead singer Nicholas Rognli-Olsen Noble’s vocals are up in the stratosphere for most of Departures and rarely descends to the levels of mere mortals, ‘New York Girls’ provides ample proof of the fact that he clearly relishes hitting those high notes whilst “singing like a cast member from Michael Jackson’s Bad.” The Gentlemen are no one trick pony either with a tune that wanders away from the electro into the realms of rock ‘n’ roll in the form of ‘This Is It’, where Sean D’Souza Walsch’s guitar screeches through each verse. The record ‘I won’t Let You Down’ also adds a little variety to the album with it’s laid back minimalist sound that goes back to basics with only vocals and an acoustic guitar, producing a pretty intimate sound. Departures’ disco indie pop makes for an easy listen that is sure to provide either a song to dance to or an opportunity for you to do your best Justin Hawkins impression while attempting to sing along. page #11
After a few favourites, including “Don’t Save Me”, Haim move on to more serious matters. “Do you want us to rap for you?” They ask the audience, who, of course, want nothing more than these ladies to attempt rapping. The girls then burst into what seems like an unpremeditated rap song, which ultimately falls flat pretty quickly; luckily the girls are able to resuscitate the dying moment by launching straight into the intro for “Forever”. With Haim’s relatively fast climb to fame, you might imagine that they would be somewhat less professional than bands who have done the rounds when it comes to playing large venues, however throughout the gig the girls maintained complete control of their performance. Despite this and after maybe seven songs the band abruptly leaves the stage and the lights go down. The usual encore chants and feet stamping follow this and Haim returns to the stage to give their highlight song performance: a version of Beyonce’s “XO”, which they first performed on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge and have now added to their set. Having only very recently started listening to Haim, I had extremely high expectations when it came to seeing them live. I was not disappointed and left the O2 with a greater appreciation for the band than I’d gone in with.