PJ Harvey at Terminal 5
PJ Harvey and her trio, John Parish, Mick Harvey and Jean-Marc Butty played two shows at NYC’s Terminal 5 on the 19th and 20th of April. John, Stephen and I were there for Wednesday’s performance which was in a word – restrained. Being a PJ Harvey fan is not easy. Even though you know which PJ you’re going to get based on her latest release, you still hope your favorite Polly Jean will show up.
The set consisted of Let England Shake in its entirety with some older tunes mixed in (see set list) and transformed to the current sound with PJ singing and playing mainly autoharp and guitar while the boys in the band backed her with guitars, keyboards, drums and vocals. The pace for the evening was set in motion by the title track which also served as the show’s opener in metronome time which varied little throughout the performance. She inhabited her character, let’s call her Polly Jean the pure of heart, in a glowing full-length milk-white gown, black high-heeled boots and a large headdress of black-as-crow feathers.
There’s a lot of war and death in Let England Shake, a lot of sadness and loss which PJ delivered with matter-of-fact precision. I wouldn’t call it a cool detachment rather a world-weary history-induced malaise. Her movement throughout the show was restrained and dare I say bird-like with her white dress’ decorative pleats mimicking ribs and bone and largely disguising any womanly form or flesh. Her gestures were also mechanical and jerky as if she was transformed into an elaborate and beautiful wind-up bird/bard automaton in order to deliver her scarred visions. At times her intensity and resolve were positively chilling.
While we were a long way from “Lick My Legs” (the hot to this evening’s cool), PJ Harvey the pure of heart still managed to transfix the crowd from the moment she walked on stage until for some, like me, days after. As a matter of fact, I find the afterglow of the evening’s performance to be much sweeter than the actual experience and if I have a real complaint its with the venue – this music demands attention and I believe it would be much better served with the audience seated setting expectations and focus up front.
Set list:
Let England Shake
The Words That Maketh Murder
All And Everyone
The Guns Called Me Back Again
Written On The Forehead
In The Dark Places
The Devil
Sky Lit Up
The River
The Glorious Land
The Last Living Rose
England
Pocket Knife
Bitter Branches
On Battleship Hill
C’mon Billy
Hanging In The Wire
The Colour Of The Earth
Encore:
The Piano / Big Exit
Angelene
Silence
*image from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927)
