PJ Harvey has no desire to live the rock and roll lifestyle. She told a reporter from The Times this week that far from celebrating her unprecedented second victory in the
Mercury Prize, she took an early night so she could spend the next morning writing. Her set in Manchester had a minimalist presentation: little on stage action or dancing, subdued lighting, and not a word said by her until the last song, when she introduced her band in the most formal terms imaginable. The all-seated audience was remarkably hushed during the performances, and even though someone shouted 'congratulations' between songs, she refused to acknowledge the win. I didn't see anyone dance: that would have seemed inappropriate, even to those who, due to the absence of a support act, had spent longer in the bar than intended.
I'm seeing
Adele in this very venue in a week's time, and the contrast in their approach is striking. PJ Harvey is consciously high brow, boldly stating in her Mercury acceptance speech that she set out to compose for posterity. She says she's influenced by the classical composers Part, Barber and Gorecki, but I see her as part of the tradition of masterly setting of the English language to music stretching back to Purcell in the 17th century and Britten in the 20th. Her voice is less powerful than Adele's; and yet I came to recognise through the set her ability to change its sound to suit the material. It can be ethereal, disturbing, and intentionally not always beautiful during Let England Shake.
PJ Harvey has ignored extant advice about engagement with fans : her first and only Tweet to date was in 2009, and she's said that she only recently acquired a computer, which she users for research only. She's a famously private person, maintaining a mystique around her which was reflected in her almost Victorian appearance: she wore a dark grey gown and leather bodice with an eccentric feather headpiece. She was usually static on stage, strumming her autoharp, or a guitar, and her band worked away studiously in the background, in a compelling aural collaboration, without visual distraction.
Yet, the evening was utterly mesmerising as we were drawn into her rich, vivid imagination; into an eerie, mystical world. Rather like the Edwardian composer Elgar, she evokes a sense of regret for an era which has passed, a yearning for the time before 1914 when war on an industrial scale swept away the innocence of previous generations. The music has mystical folk roots, but is richly orchestrated, with synthesiser creating a tapestry of tantalising timbres, and can sound daring and contemporary. It also has a very British understatement, requiring time and concentration to appreciate.
PJ Harvey's created a demanding piece of conceptual art in
Let England Shake with beautifully crafted lyrics. She worked
for over two years during 2007 and 2008 studying painters, poets, novelists and film makers' material about war before she even started work on the music. The masterly
Battleship Hill imagines impact of life in the trenches, whilst
Glorious Land reflects how England was build on countless foreign wars. The album is anti war without being overtly political, a protest through poetry and harmony. The second half of the 90 minute set ranged widely over her back catalogue, with highlights being
Dear Darkness and
The Pocket Knife; yet just before the encores, she returned to Let England Shake with
The Colour of the Earth, a soldier's lament for a fallen friend.
Music and poetry are her chosen channels of communication, and she conjures up soundscapes so evocative that small talk between songs would have shattered the spell. Any anxiety I had beforehand that it would seem contrived & detached proved ill founded. I felt real shock emerging into the reality of the dark, wet Manchester night at the end of this experience after being taken to another plane of consciousness. This feeling of transportation is a sign of truly great live music making, and indeed art.
MP3s
(these were extracted from the video clips I captured, as the visuals weren't clear enough to post).
Clip 1
Clip 2
Clip 3
Set List
Let England Shake
The Words that Maketh Murder
All and Everyone
The Big Guns Called Me Back
Written on the Forehead
In The Dark Places
Dear Darkness
The Glorious Land
The Last Living Rose
England
The Pocket Knife
Bitter Branches
On Battleship Hill
Down by the Water
C'Mon Billy
Hanging in the Wire
The Colour of the Earth
Encores:
The Piano
Angelene
Silence
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