HAIM at RBC House, Thursday, September 6. Rating: NNNN
Haim were the surprise guests at RBC House’s TIFF kick-off party last night. It makes sense they’d play an invite-only show at the intimate film festival hub at 11 Duncan – pals of celebrities from Taylor Swift to Brie Larson to Jonah Hill, the three sisters exude Los Angeles from every pore, both in sound and vibe. I think they might sweat smoothie bowls.
True to their style, the trio of Danielle, Este and Alana Haim cut through red-carpets-and-sliders TIFF party pretension with performed modesty and inside jokes, easily coaxing the audience of VIPs and influencers to sing along to hit songs like The Wire and Want You Back. Bassist Este joked about the good-looking crowd, asked if everyone there was in the movies then, sensing her big break, performed a dramatic monologue from Selena.
Sonia Recchia, Getty Images for RBC
They were clearly joking – though that kind of overt pitch is on the table at a lot of TIFF musical performances – but a Haim show does kind of feel like sitting in on a long audition for the sassy best friend role in a romantic comedy. By now, Haim are as well known for their funny stage banter as their 70s-style soft rock hooks, and they delivered – even the quiet one, Danielle. Este told stories about her Canadian bestie, who was in the audience. Alana, meanwhile, retold the story she used at their Massey Hall show in May about a psychic who told her she’d marry a Jewish Canadian violinist. Could he be in the crowd?
Sonia Recchia, Getty Images for RBC
If that – or the open bar, which they insisted we patronize – wasn’t enough to loosen the crowd, the set list did. Towards the end, they departed from their own songs and broke into some sing-along covers: Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams, Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down and, after a few screamed requests, their charming, stripped-down Shania Twain’s That Don’t Impress Me Much, complete with Danielle’s impressive guitar lick, always hiding beneath the gloss of the country-pop original. Since we’re in Canada, they said, if you don’t get loud “Queen Shania” will find out. So we did.
richardt@nowtoronto.com | @trapunski
