Haim's secret slot on the Park Stage is hardly clandestine. By the time the trio appear, the surroundings look like a living duvet of bucket hats and biodegradable glitter: word has spread, and Worthy Farm's amateur sleuths have staked out every blade of grass. When Danielle, Este and Alana stride on, the surge of recognition is joyous. Twelve years after first playing this festival, the sisters still generate an atmosphere more akin to a homecoming than a mere festival turn.
Tonight's set lasts just under an hour and draws a neat line between past and present. They power straight into crowd‑pleasers. 'The Wire' remains a knowing masterclass in country‑leaning pop‑rock, its clipped riffs and handclaps as fresh as ever. 'Now I'm in It', with Danielle's guitar cutting through like a siren, is in a way something closer to disco than rock. If the idea is to remind the audience why they fell for Haim in the first place, it works: the mass sing-back is instant and loud.
But the evening is not just a nostalgia trip. The front‑of‑stage LED screen flashes the words "I Quit" in huge red letters between numbers, a blunt visual cue that new material will be taking centre stage. 'Relationships' is the first to arrive. It lands surprisingly hard live, punchier than the studio cut and tailor‑made for open air. A few songs later, 'Everybody's Trying to Figure Me Out' pushes further, looser here than on record, powered by Este's muscular bassline and a groove roomy enough to dance in.
The old hits provide punctuation. 'The Steps' turns the hillside into a stamping ground, festival plastic pints sloshing in the air. 'Gasoline' – originally a slinky, dawn-after-breakup tune – becomes an unapologetic roar. The setting suits them: Haim have always flirted with classic rock showmanship, and in this compressed, one‑hour format, they finally give in.
Not that the humour is absent. The between‑song chat is short, sharp and endearingly nerdy. It never stalls the momentum; if anything, the rough‑and‑ready patter accentuates how tight the playing is.
The final stretch blends eras with almost algorithmic precision. 'Want You Back' prompts a hands‑aloft chorus, and 'Summer Girl' cools the tempo but keeps the sway intact. Then comes 'Down to Be Wrong', the closing number from 'I Quit'. As a show‑closing gambit it feels both gutsy and earned: Haim gamble on a new track and win.
There is no encore – Glastonbury's tight changeovers rarely allow it – but the sisters linger before Este launches herself towards the crowd, for a second clearly debating making an exit over their heads. No pyro, no confetti, no guest stars; just three musicians and a clutch of songs that have grown with them. The secrecy of the slot might be performative, yet the connection here is anything but. On this evidence, the Park Stage should probably pencil them in every five years; Haim are starting to feel like Glastonbury festival infrastructure.
