Any band can come through Philadelphia and regale a crowd with cheesesteak stage patter, and maybe even pretend that they’ve eaten a soft pretzel or two.
But making reference to not only water ice, but also to eating a Fudgy Wudgy on the beach? That type of detail requires specialized Philly-area knowledge that can be acquired only with real-life down the Shore experience.
Such as summering in Margate, which is what Haim sisters Alana, Danielle and Este, who stood left to right (in youngest to oldest order) on stage at the Mann Center on Saturday, frequently did growing up.
Haim is closely associated with Los Angeles, the city whose name is also a song title on their 2020 release Women in Music, Part III, their third and best album, which they are supporting and playing almost in its entirety on the One More Haim tour , which brought the band to the Fairmount Park venue.
LA is where the sisters are frequently seen walking the streets in music videos directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, whose movie Licorice Pizza is a paean to the San Fernando Valley, where the Haims grew up, and in which Alana Haim stars (and her sisters and their parents play supporting roles).
Southern California also exerts geographical influence on Haim’s music, which connects back to such ’70s pop-rock acts as Fleetwood Mac and Joni Mitchell. The sisters became familiar with that repertoire as children playing in a band with their father, former Israeli soccer player Mordechai “Moti” Haim, and mother Donna Rose-Haim, who grew up in Northeast Philly and Huntington Valley and began taking her daughters to the Jersey Shore in the early ’00s.
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At the Mann, the sisters took to the stage to “Now I’m in It,” a Women in Music bonus track about battling depression. Danielle sang and played lead guitar (and switched to drums halfway through). Este was on bass, and Alana played guitar and keyboards.
Dressed in matching black bikini tops and bell bottoms, the trio switched up instruments throughout the night, showing plenty of prowess on whatever they played, particularly Danielle, who has toured in the bands of Jenny Lewis and Julian Casablancas.
Throughout the high-energy, 90-minute set the women were backed by three male musicians, who provided accompaniment on guitar, drums, keyboards (and saxophone on the “Walk on the Wild Side”-ish strut of “Los Angeles.”
After an opening flurry from Women in Music and a display of goofy Haim sister choreography, the band played a thunderous “My Song 5” from their 2013 debut Days Are Gone. That song rocked the hardest, and featured the most hair wagging of the evening.
Then, Alana Haim paused to note the occasion. “Tonight might be the most important stop on this tour,” she said to an enthusiastic crowd dotted with fans wearing “4th Haim Sister” t-shirts. “Because my mom is from here. And my whole family is here!”
That set up a highlight later in the show, which would follow an acoustic “Hallelujah” (not the Leonard Cohen song) with the sisters each singing lead on one verse, and Danielle’s showcase “Man From the Magazine,” which mocked obtuse male music journalists who ask inappropriate questions.
Then, the big Philly moment: The sisters remembered about playing their first-ever show here at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, where their mother had gone to a David Bowie concert in the 1970s.
And they then brought out “the greatest mother in the world” for a song. Rose-Haim explained that they wouldn’t do their usual “Mustang Sally” because her husband wasn’t there. Instead, “because Hall & Oates are from Philadelphia” and she saw them “in Pennypack Park in 1968 or 1969,” they settled on “Rich Girl.”
Este played the grabby bass line and Danielle took the lead vocal, but their mother also had her turn in the spotlight, showing where her daughters got their confidence onstage. The song ended with the sisters on their knees, bowing down to the woman who gave birth to them.
The show was opened by Sasami, the Los Angeles singer-guitarist who went to high school with the Haims and is a former member of the band Cherry Glazerr. She played a ripping set that alternated between heavy rockers and power ballads and included a furious cover of Daniel Johnston’s “Sorry Entertainer.”
And she was funny. “This is the greatest show I ever played,” she said. “But I play the same show every night. So tomorrow I’ll be in Ohio playing for 10 people and they’ll see the greatest show I ever played, too.”
Lines were long to get into the man, where proof of vaccination was needed for entry — a reminder that although most venues have relaxed COVID protocols, individual bands are still setting requirements for their own tours.
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