It’s been well over a decade since PJ Harvey has done a proper tour of the U.S., and her past two albums haven’t seen more than a handful of shows played in New York, L.A. and San Francisco. The rest of the country hasn’t seen her play their venues since 2004’s tour in support of Uh Huh Her. With her newest album The Hope Six Demolition Project being a political album about the HOPE VI project that demolished public housing in areas with high crime rates to build better housing, which ultimately leads to gentrification, it seems appropriate that Harvey would choose this album to return to the U.S. for a full tour.
Harvey’s sold out crowd at Stubb’s BBQ in Austin on Friday, April 28th began with Harvey’s band marching out on stage in a slow procession made up of a drum line with multiple bass and snare drums and a multitude of saxophones. This all gave the impression of a military marching band and set the tone for the first half of the set. Harvey herself was also playing a saxophone for much of the first half of the set while dressed in a cloak of black feathers. The first five songs were all from The Hope Six Demolition Project and while the military-style drum and sax feel was exciting for the opener “Chain of Keys” and “The Ministry of Defence”, by the time the fifth song in the set, “A Line in the Sand” came to a close, it started to lose its charm a bit. After playing a trio of songs from 2011’s Let England Shake including the titular track followed by “The Words That Maketh Murder” and “The Glorious Land” all performed with the same wall of sound feel as the previous songs, the set list started to turn to older songs and the audience couldn’t have been happier.
“When Under Ether” from 2007’s White Chalk was played, the attitude of the audience became much more attentive. The slower, more ethereal songs are where Harvey’s vocals shine and one is hard pressed not to stop and listen. New songs like “The Wheel” and “Dollar, Dollar” found warmer reception in this latter half of the set as they were sprinkled in instead of being grouped together in a bunch. Decades old songs like “50ft Queenie” from 1993’s classic Rid of Me and “Down by the Water” and “To Bring You My Love” from the much lauded 1995 release To Bring You My Love all found their way onto to the set list and had much of the audience singing along. After a short encore break Harvey’s band returned to play the non-album single “Guilty” from her newest album before closing with the title track from 1998’s Is This Desire?
While the set list could have benefitted from a bit more diversity in the beginning half, the second half of the show more than made up for any mono-dynamic feeling preceding it. And while the set for the night would include all but one song from her new album, a bit more of sprinkling it throughout the set instead of all at once could have created more excitement throughout. However, considering that it could be another decade before most of us get to see Polly Jean Harvey again, it’s best to be thankful for the excellent performance that was given. By the end of the show, the sold out crowd at Stubb’s was still clamoring for more and everyone seemed grateful that they got to experience the iconic Harvey in concert.
Photo by Merrick Ales and used courtesy of Stubb’s BBQ
