Concert Review: PJ Harvey, September 25, History

Skip to content

Home
About Us
- Derek
- Gary
- Halley/Celeste
- Paul
- Ricky
- Vik
Concerts
Reviews
- Albums
- Venue
- Movies
- Year End Reviews
Festivals
Contact Us

Menu

Home
About Us
- Derek
- Gary
- Halley/Celeste
- Paul
- Ricky
- Vik
Concerts
Reviews
- Albums
- Venue
- Movies
- Year End Reviews
Festivals
Contact Us

Concert Review: PJ Harvey, September 25, History

Posted on

26 Sep 2024

by

Paul

PJ Harvey released her debut album Dry way back in March of 1992. For any artist who’s been around that long and is still in the game, they generally tend to take one of two paths – play it safe, stick to the hits of yesteryear and drift into becoming a nostalgia act or continue to experiment and push forward. With her latest album I Inside The Old Year Dying, it’s clear that Polly Jean Harvey has chosen the latter path.

Her current tour sees Harvey playing the new album in its entirety, followed by a selection of tunes from throughout her career. Interestingly, she’s the second artist I’ve seen playing such a set within the span of just a few days, with Frank Turner also playing his new album in full this past weekend during the third night of his Lost Evenings festival. If this is the start of a trend, I think I approve, if only because it can serve as a counterbalance to all those “20th anniversary of our most famous album” tours. (Though, full disclosure – I do love those kinds of tours too sometimes.)

Taking to the stage promptly at 8:00pm, Harvey and her band put on an incredible performance that was utterly compelling throughout. With the staging, the lighting, and Harvey’s dramatic movements about the stage, their performance took on a definite theatrical bent.

The songs from the new album sounded fantastic, with “Lwonesome Tonight” and “August” standing out as particular highlights. Truthfully, I might have been satisfied if they played nothing but the new album, but luckily I got to hear a whole lot more as she delved into her back catalogue to break out such classics as “Angeline”, “Dress” and “The Desperate Kingdom of Love.”

Throughout the evening Harvey and her band worked to create a mood and build atmosphere, with the spell only broken on those occasions when a fan would yell out a “We love you PJ!” or two between songs. I suppose you can hardly blame them though. It was a great show.

PrevPreviousSong of the Day: Sunroof – Ensnare

NextSong of the Day: Jennifer Castle – EarthsongNext

SEARCH

Search for:

THE PAST

Tags

British Music Embassy (10) Canadian Music Fest (11) canadian music week (20) cmf (10) cmw (42) concert (9) el mocambo (9) fringe (26) Great Lake Swimmers (10) guelph (9) horseshoe tavern (23) hot docs (103) jazz (12) Joel Plaskett (10) jukebox the ghost (15) lee's palace (27) marina and the diamonds (10) Massive Attack (10) mod club (12) NXNE (94) of monsters and men (11) Phoenix (15) play reviews (11) Pulp (11) Roskilde Festival (16) rural alberta advantage (10) sharon van etten (10) suede (12) summerworks (34) SXSW (479) SXSW 2022 (11) SXSW 2024 (11) SXSW Online (18) the antlers (11) the cure (9) the national (10) the xx (11) Tokyo Police Club (9) Toronto (25) toronto fringe (14) Toronto Jazz Festival (55) turf (13) tweeview (10) Video (9) zeus (10)

We are a collective of individuals bringing you the latest in concert reviews, indie, britpop, Canadian, twee and all sorts of other music, movies, tv and everything else you like. Follow the manual to live a pleasant and fulfilling life.