PJ Harvey live review: a true artist in her element
On the cramped train from Halifax back to Leeds, I overheard a man tell his friend, “It was good, but I wish she’d played more hits”. Most people on this overstuffed Northern Rail train, including myself, had just watched PJ Harvey play a 22-song set at The Piece Hall, one of the most impressive venues in the country.
Sitting there, the light stench of beer wafting around the carriage, I began thinking about this man’s statement. Harvey had opened up her set with nine of the 12 songs from her newest album, I Inside The Old Year Dying. It was clear from the amount of bald heads and people wearing anoraks that many fans in the crowd would have been around to witness Harvey release classics like Rid of Me and Is This Desire?.
Evidently, many people were expecting to hear more of Harvey’s older, iconic tracks from the get-go—the songs that made her such an important and beloved figure—a much more iconic status than the avant-garde latest release would ever permit.
Yet, the second half of Harvey’s set was loaded with hits, like ‘50Ft Queenie’, ‘Man Size’, ‘C’mon Billy’, ‘Down By The Water’, and her debut single, ‘Dress’, searing with rock ‘n’ roll star status. Harvey didn’t starve fans of her earlier songs; instead, she weaved them into a performance that felt transcendent, personal, and euphoric – a summation of years’ worth of musical experimentation and artistic authenticity.
By placing some of her oldest material next to some of her newest, Harvey demonstrated just how incredible of a musician she is. It’s so often the case that bands who emerged decades prior will release a new album that feels like an attempt to get back to their glory days, but that’s not the case with Harvey. She’s constantly evolving, and her live shows reflect this – there’s no reason for these newer songs to take a back seat in favour of her better-known songs.
Perhaps some people, then, wanted to hear more anthemic cuts from the very start, but to expect such would be to misunderstand Harvey as an artist. The setlist felt perfectly suited for the rainy atmosphere and the prestigious venue, an 18th-century former cloth hall which now houses independent shops and restaurants. By night, however, it’s a beautiful gig venue. You can see the thick masses of trees, hills and church spires stretching out in the distance, a reminder of England’s rich natural history that years worth of art and culture have been built upon.
Thus, it was the ideal location to hear Harvey perform tracks from her new album, which have a haunting, pastoral essence. As the day slowly melted into night and a firm breeze brushed over the crowd, the rain came down, illuminated by the stage lights, as though nature was in direct communication with Harvey’s music.
The singer moved about the stage as though the wind was carrying her from right to left, leaving me absolutely transfixed. Harvey’s white dress flowed like waves as she threw herself around, enrapturing the audience with proof that she could command a crowd as well as she can write extraordinary songs. Through the loudest moments of chaos to the stripped-back, quieter sections (with ‘The Desperate Kingdom of Love’ being a highlight), Harvey was indomitable – a true artist in her element.
The man on the train is entitled to his opinion, of course, but Harvey can’t just cycle through the same popular songs for a whole set – that would become tiring and inauthentic. Harvey struck the perfect balance of old and new, and I was mesmerised, as were many others in the crowd, from start to finish.
