PJ HARVEY // BARROWLAND BALLROOM, GLASGOW
PJ Harvey gave an excellent display of her beguiling voice and vivid poetic laments to an adoring Glasgow crowd in the first of two nights at the Barrowlands.
★★★★★ (5/5)
PJ Harvey is surely a national treasure. The Dorset native has a stunning voice and excellent varied discography showcasing her chameleon like approach to music. On her first music tour since 2017, PJ is promoting her atmospheric and foreboding new album I Inside the Old Year Dying.
Without any support the evening set starts early. Excellent all the more time for PJ to mine her extensive back catalogue. Firstly though, I Inside the Old Year Dying is played in full, PJ clearly rightfully confident in her new material. Opening with Prayer at the Gate is a superb move with gentle hummed melody and ominous eerie ghostly synths setting the tone for the evening and ensuring PJs intense voice is starkly displayed. The set continues in a similar vein, with haunting brooding back tracking’s showcase PJs poetic prowess. Such as the I Inside the Old I Dying with hypnotic reference to “chalky children”. While the Elvis Pressley referencing A Child’s Question August is led by gentle drum beat to an achingly beautiful climax. a Noiseless Noise provides some thrust with intense distortion giving way to delicate finger picked guitar and vocals from Harvey to match. An intriguing way to finish the new album showcase.
After I Inside the Old Year Dying, PJ exits the stage and the band perform The Colour of the Earth without her. The four voices of the multi-instrumentalists, including long time PJ producer John Parish, harmonising perfectly. PJ, then returns to the stage to finish the show with a career spanning set, featuring some lesser played crowd-pleasing classics. A false start of PJ coming into early on her guitar during The Glorious Land is played for laughs otherwise the show is tight and the musician ship flawless. Throughout this second set PJ exhibits her eclectic musical styles from the discordant rattle of Man-Size (not played on tour since 2008) and the punky burst of Dress is contrasted with the balladry of The Desperate Kingdom of Love and the piano led the Garden. The Garden is a particular highlight changed from the dense bass led studio version to a piano heavy performance. The stage is lit only by a distorted shadow of PJ and her band together this manages to create vivid imagery and atmosphere.
A tremendous crowd reaction greets lesser played classic songs from PJ such as Angelene and Send His Love to Me. While the main set finishes with powerful and predictably well received versions of Down by the Water and To Bring You My Love. After a bow the band and PJ return for C’mon Billy and then evening is finished with the gentle and lilting White Chalk again showcasing PJs fantastic higher vocal register while references to nature, folklore and emotional pain met powerfully. Then, after a final bow the show is complete to rapturous applause.