“Motherfucking Austin, Texas!” the band HAIM screamed on stage at the Moody Center.
Blasting their music, HAIM led a group of fans on a hot girl walk from East Cesar Chavez Street down South Congress Avenue at 10:30 a.m. on Friday before their show that night.
“We walk everywhere, we walk with sass and all of you walked with sass,” the HAIM sisters said to the group. “We can’t wait to see you all tonight. If this is the start to (our) day, tonight’s gonna be fucking insane.”
The intimate experience allowed fans to tell their idols about the times they saw them in concert and the impact of the band’s music on their lives. The walk ended with a free coffee at Jo’s, where Este Haim bought everyone coffee at the South Congress staple. Fans took a group photo, and after counts of one, two, three, they yelled, “I quit!”
Eight hours later, the “I quit tour” band strutted into the Moody Center. After opener “Gone,” the first track on the June album release, I quit, the band reminisced on their start, which was playing South by Southwest in 2012, the first place they performed outside of their home city of Los Angeles. They said when they applied to SXSW that first time, they were rejected.
“We were like, ‘Fuck that, we’re coming anyways,’” Alana Haim said.
After a week at the 2012 festival, HAIM sold out their last show, launching their career. In 2014, the band became part of Taylor Swift’s squad, opening for the 1989 World Tour in 2015. Years later, they collaborated on Swift’s “no body no crime,” the remix of “Gasoline” and in 2023, joined the Eras Tour as openers for 10 stops. Headlining their fourth tour, the band gave a toast to Austin.
“(Austin), we’ve been in a relationship for a long time,” Alana said. “It’s my favorite one I’ve ever had.”
The other HAIM sister, as they said, was the light-up sign above their heads. Throughout the night, it read, “I quit” various activities pertaining to the setlist – such as clothing, regret, “your shit” and giving up.
Danielle Haim ran to the drum kit for “The Steps.” After a high-spirited performance, the band jumped straight into a three-song run, including one of their most popular tracks, “Gasoline,” minus Swift. They followed this with “Everybody’s trying to figure me out,” a single from I quit, and “Blood on the street.”
At the end of “The farm,” HAIM asked if anyone in the audience came with their sibling and for cheers from the youngest, middle and oldest children. Transitioning to “Hallelujah,” which is about comfort from family during hard times, Alana teared up talking about a fan they met during the HAIM walk.
“This amazing young girl got the next song tattooed. … She just lost a friend of hers,” Alana said. “I wrote my words about my best friend that I lost. It was beautiful to see that we could write a song to heal some wounds. … This song is for all of y’all.”
After an extended solo from saxophonist Nick Ellman, HAIM ran into popular tracks “Summer Girl,” “Relationships” and “Now I’m In It.” They left the stage, but the sign told the audience about the encore, including “The Wire” and “Down to be wrong.”
“Thank you for coming to the HAIM show,” the sign read after the band left. “Goodbye.”
